Borne  Estimates  of  Life 


Jaa.  B,  Chapman 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT    LOS  ANGELES 


Some  Estimates  of  Life 

By 
JAS.  B.  CHAPMAN, 

President  oj  the  General  Board  of  Education 
Church  oj  the  Nazarene 

and 
Editor    oj    the    Herald    oj    Holiness. 


NAZARENE  PUBLISHING  HOUSE 

2109-15   TROOST  AVENUE 

KANSAS  CITY,  Mo. 


TBV 


Distributed  by  the  General  Board  of 
Education,  Church  of  the  Nazarene,  2109 
Troost  Ave.,  Kansas  City,  Missouri.  Pro- 
ceeds  from  the  sale  to  be  used  in  the  in- 
terest  of  Christian  Education. 


CONTENTS 

I.  The  Kingdom  of  God  Is  Within  You  9 
II.  The  Law  of  Sacrifice 35 

III.  Man's  Cry  for  the  Supernatural.  .    55 

IV.  The  Undesigned  Calf 67 

V.  The  Law  of  Life 85 

VI.  Life's  Purpose  and  End 107 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 


The  infant  man  seems  to  have  an  in- 
stinctive sense  of  insufficiency  and  incom- 
pleteness. He  holds  fast  to  any  support 
upon  which  his  hands  chance  to  fall  and 
gives  the  clearest  evidence  that  he  is  moved 
by  the  sense  of  his  own  helplessness.  And, 
indeed,  how  very  dependent  he  is!  How 
little  he  knows!  His  body  is  naked  and 
his  mind  is  blank,  his  hands  are  empty  and 
his  moral  senses  are  dormant. 

But  the  infant  man  is  possessed  of  an 
"acquiring  tendency."  He  reaches  out  to 
things  outside  of  himself.  And  there  are  very 
few  worth  while  things  that  come  to  him 
of  their  own  volition;  he  must  "fight  if  he 
would  win"  even  in  the  battle  of  existence 
itself. 

The  infant  man  recognizes  that  he  is  a 
born  king.  He  feels  within  his  soul  the 
creature's  answer  to  the  Creator's  com- 
11 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

mandment  to  "subdue  the  earth  and  rule 
over  it." 

The  material  world  is  the  first  territory 
demanding  conquest  with  which  the  infant 
man  comes  in  contact,  and  here,  also,  is  the 
basis  for  his  first  great  temptation — the 
temptation  to  be  chiefly  concerned  with  the 
things  of  the  time  and  sense  world.  Every 
one,  must  spend  a  great  deal  of  his  total 
time  upon  this  earth  in  looking  after  the 
material  needs.  One  third  of  our  life  is 
spent  in  sleep.  Another  third  is  spent  in 
honest  toil,  if  we  really  merit  material  ex- 
istence. Then  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
remaining  third  must  be  spent  in  eating,  in 
dressing  and  in  recreation. 

It  is  said  that  a  proud  young  lieutenant 
in  the  regular  army  spent  the  night  with  an 
old  mountaineer  in  West  Virginia.  In  the 
morning,  the  soldier  arose,  washed  his  face 
and  hands,  shaved  himself  and  washed  his 
teeth.  The  old  mountaineer  watched  all 
this  with  increasing  curiosity;  and  when 
the  officer  began  to  polish  his  shoes,  the 
host  could  stand  it  no  longer.  "Young 
man,"  he  inquired  sympathetically,  "are 
12 


you  this  much  trouble  to  yourself  every 
day?"  We  are  all  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
to  ourselves,  even  with  the  simplest  life 
that  we  can  live. 

His  relationship  to  the  world  of  material 
possessions  has  always  constituted  one  of 
man's  greatest  problems.  Wealth  has  been 
seen  to  purchase  many  things  that  men 
need,  so  the  rich  man  has  been  called  "in- 
dependent," and  the  child-man  who  in- 
quires the  way  to  the  domains  of  his  un- 
conquered  empire  is  usually  directed  to  the 
counting  house  and  to  the  marts  of  trade. 
But  either  experience  or  observation  teaches 
us  all  that  servants  of  Mammon  are  debased 
slaves,  and  that  in  possessing  the  world  of 
wealth  men  are  possessed  by  the  heartless 
god  Mammon. 

Earthly  glory  is  another  domain  that  is 
offered  to  the  adventurer  who  has  entered 
the  ranks  of  mundane  combatants.  Power 
to  make  men  obey  and  ability  to  cause  men 
to  bestow  honor,  are  alike  fascinating  to 
the  misdirected.  The  great  military  heroes, 
even  the  best  and  the  worst  of  them,  were 
not  primarily  thirsty  for  blood.  Blood  was 

13 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

incidental;  their  great  moving  cause  was  a 
passion  for  conquest. 

Fleshly  pleasure  is  another  field  that  en- 
tices the  "Wandering  Ulysses."  "The  lust 
of  the  world,  the  lust  of  flesh  and  the  pride 
of  life"  are  sisters  in  the  trio  of  formidable 
"flappers"  who  would  become  substitutes 
for  man's  higher  fields  of  conquest. 

But  we  can  not  blame  the  man  for  being 
what  the  Creator  made  him;  and  naturally 
man  covets  riches,  desires  kingship,  pines 
for  glory  and  demands  a  satisfaction  that 
nature  did  not  give  him:  therefore  these 
instincts,  tendencies  and  cravings  are  not 
evil  within  themselves.  It  is  only  when 
they  are  biased  by  inward  depravity  and 
encouraged  by  outer  misdirection  that  they 
result  in  the  monstrosities  that  are  worthy 
of  no  defense. 

And  human  regulation  can  not  be  trusted 
to  correct  evils  which  grow  out  of  natural 
and  universal  endowments.  Peace  confer- 
ences and  disarmament  meetings  may  do 
good  by  encouraging  men  to  think  and 
reason,  rather  than  to  feel  and  fight;  but 
men  are  fighters  constitutionally,  and  leg- 

14 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 

islation  can  not  change  human  nature.  The 
ancients  had  no  modern  armaments,  but 
they  killed  more  people,  proportionally,  in 
their  wars  than  we  kill  in  ours  today. 

Legislation  may  serve  to  curb  the  pres- 
ent impositions  of  the  rich,  but  can  not  de- 
stroy the  desire  for  accumulation.  Materi- 
alistic socialism  will  never  be  successful 
or  satisfactory.  The  reason  is  that  man  is 
conscious  of  his  dependence,  and  he  is  con- 
vinced that  this  dependence  will  grow  with 
the  increase  of  his  years,  therefore,  his 
heart  is  set  on  acquisitions. 

Prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic  is  use- 
ful in  removing  temptation;  punishment 
of  drug  vendors  is  a  means  for  saving  many; 
and  the  censorship  of  motion  pictures  is  de- 
manded by  the  very  laws  of  common  de- 
cency; but  man  is  set  for  pleasure,  he  will 
find  some  way  to  meet  the  cravings  of  his 
heart  and  mind.  An  actual  demand  can  not 
be  met  by  a  negation. 

Jesus  Christ  was  a  prohibitionist.     He 

said,  "A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the 

abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possess- 

eth";   "Beware  of  covetousness";   "Labor 

is 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

not  for  the  meat  that  perisheth";  "How 
hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven";  and  "Woe  unto 
you  that  are  rich."  But  He  did  not  leave 
His  commandments  in  the  negative  form. 
He  said,  "Labor  for  that  meat  which  en- 
dure th  unto  everlasting  life."  And  he  talked 
to  His  people  about  the  "true  riches."  He  an- 
nounced to  them  that  the  "Kingdom  of  God 
cometh  not  with  outward  show";  but  He 
did  not  stop  until  He  had  said,  "The  king- 
dom of  God  is  within  you." 

Man  must  and  should  possess,  but  his 
acquisitions,  must  be  "true  riches,"  which 
are  meted  in  the  measure  of  his  own  spiritual 
accomplishments,  and  not  the  sordid  gold 
and  chattels  of  the  material  life.  Man  must 
conquer  and  rule,  but  his  own  heart  and  life 
constitute  the  true  domains  of  his  king- 
dom. Man  should,  nay  he  must  have 
pleasure,  but  the  peace  that  pardon  brings, 
and  the  joy  of  a  worth  while  life  and  serv- 
ice are  the  pleasures  that  he  will  find  truly 
satisfying. 

It  is  a  mistake  for  a  man  to  think  of, 
and  reach  for  conquests  that  are  afar,  and 

16 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 

for  riches  that  are  not  really  a  part  of  him- 
self. Even  the  secular  moralists  say,  "Half 
the  music  is  in  the  ear  of  the  listener,  half 
the  beauty  is  in  the  eye  of  the  beholder, 
and  half  the  goodness  is  in  the  heart."  The 
most  classical  music  is  but  a  jumble  of  con- 
flicting sounds  to  the  untutored  ear,  the 
finest  painting  is  but  cheap  canvas  and 
daubs  of  color  to  the  inartistic  eye,  the 
beauty  of  the  landscape  and  the  gorgeous- 
ness  of  the  sunset  are  lost  upon  the  soul  in 
which  the  poetic  instinct  is  dead.  The 
grandeur  of  the  mountains,  and  the  splen- 
dor of  the  wild  flowers  are  nothing  to  the 
worldling  who  thinks  only  of  deeds  and 
chattels.  The  plastic  arts  have  no  meaning 
to  the  man  who  estimates  treasures  by  the 
yard  and  pound.  Friendship  and  love  are 
but  myths  to  the  sordid  profligate  and  to 
the  mechanical  intellectual.  But  "Unto  the 
pure  all  things  are  pure." 

Solomon  declared  that  a  man  who  rules 
his  own  spirit  is  better  than  the  one  who 
takes  a  city.  That  is,  the  conquest  of  one's 
own  mind  and  passions  and  heart  is  a  great- 
er victory  than  to  overcome  everything  that 

17 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

is  outside  of  one's  self.  Alexander  conquered 
the  world  without  and  made  all  kings  pay 
him  tribute  and  acknowledge  his  authority; 
but  he  failed  to  overcome  the  world  within, 
and  died  from  the  effects  of  liquor  and  de- 
bauchery. His  passion  for  conquest  might 
have  been  spent  on  the  world  within  and 
he  could  have  been  another  Socrates  or, 
with  divine  illumination,  another  Paul.  If 
he  had  sought  God  with  the  indomitable 
will  with  which  he  sought  worldly  glory, 
what  a  conqueror  he  might  have  been!  If 
he  had  been  as  thirsty  for  the  "new  wine 
of  the  Kingdom"  as  he  was  for  the  liquors 
of  Babylon,  what  an  Apostle  of  Pentecost 
he  would  have  been !  Julius  Caesar  read  the 
story  of  Alexander  and  shamed  himself  by 
saying,  "Why,  he  died  before  he  was  as 
old  as  I  am,  and  yet  I  have  scarcely  made  a 
beginning."  He  picked  out  one  of  the  mean- 
est towns  in  Gaul  and  said  he  would  rather 
be  the  first  man  in  that  town  than  to  be 
the  second  man  in  Rome.  How  he  would 
have  gone  from  "glory  to  glory"  if  his  pas- 
sion had  only  been  directed  toward  the 
conquest  of  the  Christian's  Canaan!  Ulysses 

18 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 

S.  Grant  was  the  hero  of  many  a  campaign, 
but  when  he  was  old  and  dying  of  cancer 
he  acknowledged  that  he  had  never  had 
the  courage  to  come  out  definitely  for 
Christ,  as  he  had  felt  all  along  that  he 
should  have  done. 

Money  is  valuable  only  in  terms  of  what 
it  will  buy.  The  miser  stood  guard  over  his 
gold  until  he  starved  to  death.  Most  peo- 
ple want  money  because  it  will  purchase 
what  they  want,  and  will,  therefore,  pro- 
mote their  independence.  But  the  average 
man's  desires  keep  the  same  proportionate 
distance  ahead  of  his  ability  all  through 
his  life.  He  is  as  near  contented  when  his 
income  is  five  hundred  dollars  per  year  as 
he  is  when  it  has  grown  to  five  thousand; 
for  the  things  that  would  have  delighted 
him  at  first  no  longer  satisfy  him  at  all.  If 
this  difficulty  is  really  overcome  by  the 
actual  super-abundance  of  wealth,  then, 
right  away,  the  man  wants  something  that 
money  will  not  buy  at  all.  Ahab  pouted  and 
wished  to  die  because  Naboth  allowed  a 
moral  cause  to  keep  him  from  selling  his 
vineyard  for  money. 

19 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

Still,  we  would  not  kill  out  man's  de- 
sire for  possessions:  for  this  would  make 
the  man  worthless  and  still  would  not  make 
him  happy.  Diogenes,  the  wise  old  Greek, 
observed  that  "A  man's  happiness  is  not 
promoted  by  the  increase  of  his  income,  but 
by  the  decrease  of  his  wants."  And  he  set 
in  to  reduce  his  wants.  He  moved  from  his 
house  into  a  tub  to  get  rid  of  the 
trouble  of  having  to  care  for  the  house; 
he  threw  away  his  dishes  to  save 
the  trouble  of  washing  them.  At  last  he  had 
only  a  cup  for  drinking  and  a  spoon  for  eat- 
ing. Then  he  saw  a  boy  drink  out  of 
his  hand  and  eat  with  his  fingers  and  he 
threw  away  his  cup  and  spoon.  Alexander 
visited  him  as  he  sat  in  his  tub  and  asked 
what  he  could  do  for  him.  The  only  request 
that  Diogenes  would  make  of  the  world 
conqueror  was  that  he  would  stand  aside 
out  of  his  sunlight.  Diogenes  has  been 
offered  as  an  example  of  poverty 
without  indigence.  Others  sought  inde- 
pendence by  possessing  wealth,  he  sought 
the  same  goal  in  the  opposite  direction;  he 
would  be  independent  of  wealth  by  ceasing 

20 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 

to  need  what  it  would  buy.  But  he  could 
not  stop  with  material  things.  The  same 
indolence  which  he  exercised  toward  the 
possession  of  wealth  was  manifested  toward 
learning  and  religion;  so  that  in  the  end 
his  philosophy  led  back  to  the  Buddhaistic 
notion  of  cessation  as  a  means  of  happiness 
and  rest.  The  practical  results  were  seen 
in  the  slothfulness  and  uselessness  of  those 
who  tried  to  follow  him.  No,  .man  must 
retain  his  passion  for  possessions  and  have 
it  directed  toward  things  that  are  holy  and 
true. 

Jesus  said  of  Himself,  "Foxes  have  holes, 
and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the 
Son  of  Man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head." 
No  one  can  think  of  Jesus  as  wishing  for 
riches,  yet  no  one  can  think  of  His  followers 
becoming  indolent  and  filled  with  low,  self- 
ish ease.  "My  Father  worketh,  hitherto, 
and  I  work."  "I  do  cures  today  and  to- 
morrow, and  the  third  day,  I  shall  be  per- 
fected." "And  he  arose  a  great  while  be- 
fore day  and  went  out  into  a  mountain  to 
pray."  "And  being  weary  with  the  journey, 
he  sat  upon  the  well."  "He  found  no  leisure, 

21 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

even  so  much  as  to  eat."  These  are  the  say- 
ings and  doings  of  Jesus.  He  was  not  poor 
in  order  that  He  might  not  bear  the  re- 
sponsibility; He  was  poor  that  He  might 
be  free  to  give  His  life  to  higher  interests 
than  the  riches  of  this  world. 

Following  on  after  Christ,  Paul  said, 
"Labor  not  to  be  rich;"  and,  "I  have 
learned  in  whatsoever  state  I  am,  therewith 
to  be  content."  Still  he  urged  that  "Our 
people  profess  honest  trades  that  they  may 
have  to  give  to  them  that  have  need."  He 
exhorted,  "Be  not  slothful  in  business."  He 
testified,  "I  have  labored  more  abundantly 
than  they  all."  At  the  close  of  his  life  he 
witnessed  "I  have  fought  a  good  fight." 
He  commanded  his  preachers  to  "Be  in- 
stant in  season  and  out  of  season."  There 
is  every  indication  that  Paul  would  not  al- 
low any  seeker  after  earthly  gold  to  be 
more  zealous  in  the  pursuit  of  his  object 
than  he  himself  would  be  in  his  quest  for 
the  "gold  that  is  tried  in  the  fire."  The  hap- 
piest man  is,  indeed,  the  man  who  needs  the 
least  of  this  world;  provided  he  needs  it 
not,  because  he  possesses  something  so 

22 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 

much  better.  Diogenes  was  poor  within  as 
well  as  poor  without,  but  while  the  follower 
of  Jesus  Christ  may  be  poor  without,  he  is 
never  poor  within. 

Health  is  a  great  personal  possession — a 
fortune  within  itself.  And  any  one  who  has 
even  a  small  legacy  to  begin  with  can  be 
conqueror  of  physical  handicaps.  It  is  said 
that  the  father  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  pro- 
vided a  private  gymnasium  for  the  delicate 
lad  and  said,  "Your  mind  is  all  right,  but 
you  will  have  to  build  you  a  body."  The 
lad  looked  at  the  apparatus  designed  to  be 
used  for  physical  development,  set  his  jaw 
in  determination  and  said,  "All  right,  I  will 
build  a  body."  How  well  he  succeeded  is 
indicated  by  the  amount  of  work  that  he 
turned  off  in  a  rather  short  life- time.  But 
physical  health  and  strength  is  not  the  only 
need — it  is  not  even  the  principal  require- 
ment; for  the  men,  and  races  of  men,  who 
possess  the  greatest  physical  perfection  are 
commonly  the  least  sufficient  within  them- 
selves. 

The  intellect  presents  another  great  em- 
pire waiting  to  be  subdued  and  ruled  over. 

23 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

The  capabilities  and  capacities  of  the  mind 
of  man  are  wonderful  indeed;  and  the  edu- 
cated man  has  the  advantage  always.  Lay- 
ing aside  earning  capacity,  which  is  the 
usual  consideration  when  education  is 
being  mentioned,  a  man  with  a  trained  mind 
gets  a  great  deal  more  out  of  life  than  he 
would  get  with  an  untutored  intellect.  It  is 
only  the  educated  man  who  finds,  "  Books 
in  running  brooks  and  sermons  in  stones." 
The  astronomer  possesses  the  heavens  in  a 
much  more  real  sense  than  the  untaught  ob- 
server of  the  stars.  The  botanist  sees  in  the 
structure  of  the  humble  nettle  beauty  that 
is  hidden  to  the  eyes  of  the  barbarian.  But 
the  intellect  is  not  all — it  is  not  even  the 
principal  thing.  Those  who,  like  Plato, 
have  held  that  speculation  is  the  highest 
occupation  of  man,  have  come  to  a  sad  and 
unsatisfying  end.  Darwin,  in  his  old  age, 
bewailed  the  fact  that  he  had  become  a 
mere  machine  for  discovering  facts  and 
classifying  them  for  the  convenience  of 
other  men.  He  declared  that  his  own  life 
was  empty  and  unsatisfactory.  He  com- 
plained that  he  had  lost  his  love  for  music, 

24 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 

poetry  and  the  plastic  arts,  and  that  love 
and  all  pleasant  sentiments  had  no  place  in 
his  life. 

The  heart  must  be  included  in  the  domain 
of  personal  empire,  or  all  else  is  vain  and 
incomplete.  A  sound  heart  is  the  center 
around  which  all  the  facts  of  the  good  life 
are  mustered.  Jesus  always  arranged  the 
setting  in  this  way.  Evil  thoughts,  and  all 
the  things  that  defile  the  man,  He  said, 
came  out  of  the  heart — that  is,  out  of  the 
affections.  He  commended  care  in  tithing 
the  mint,  anise  and  cummin,  minor  details, 
but  especially  commanded  attention  to 
goodness  and  judgment  and  the  weightier 
matters  of  the  law.  He  allowed  for  the 
profit  in  keeping  the  commandments  from 
one's  youth  up,  but  uncovered  the  heart  sin 
of  avariciousness  as  the  hidden  bar  in  the 
harbor  entrance  into  the  Kingdom.  The 
cleansing  of  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  of 
the  platter,  He  counted  secondary  to  in- 
ward holiness.  And,  while  He  always  re- 
joiced in  human  accomplishments,  He  em- 
phasized the  indispensability  of  the  bestow- 
als of  Divine  grace.  He  accepted  the  grati- 

25 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

tude  of  the  Samaritan  leper,  but  told  the 
accomplished  Jewish  teacher  that  he  must 
experience  the  new  birth.  He  doubted  the 
human  profession  of  full  fidelity  on  the  part 
of  unsanctified  Peter  but  received  the  true 
confession  of  the  dying  thief.  The  stately 
courtesy  of  Simon  the  Pharisee  meant  less 
to  Him  than  the  tears  of  the  penitent 
woman  from  the  streets.  He  never  envied 
the  rich  or  wise  or  great  but  rejoiced  that 
the  Father  made  known  His  principal  se- 
crets to  believing  babes.  He  taught  His  dis- 
ciples to  give  rather  than  to  get ;  He  denied 
any  position  as  a  divider  of  worldly  her- 
itages but  promised  that  the  meek  should 
inherit  the  earth  which  others  were  striving 
so  hard  to  acquire.  Though  His  true  fol- 
lowers were  to  turn  the  other  cheek  to  the 
smiter  give  the  inner  garment  to  the  one 
pressing  his  legal  claim  for  the  outer  one, 
and  go  the  second  mile  with  the  representa- 
tive of  the  emperor  who  could  legally  com- 
pel him  to  go  only  one;  yet  He  forbade  self- 
pity,  and  comforted  His  disciples  with  the 
words,  "Fear  not,  little  flock  for  it  is  the 
Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the 

26 


Kingdom"  for  which  others  are  compelled 
to  fight.  The  Christ  life  is  the  best  life. 

The  biography,  or  autobiography  of  a 
man  usually  gives  just  the  outside  facts 
concerning  his  life:  the  place  and  date  of 
his  birth,  the  extent  of  his  academic  train- 
ing and  the  things  he  did,  or  tried  to  do. 
But  this  is  no  more  the  actual  story  of  a 
man's  life  than  a  rehearsal  of  its  wars  is  a 
history  of  the  American  nation.  There  is 
a  little  of  a  man's  life  that  may  be  called 
his  public  life,  there  is  a  little  that  may  be 
called  his  social  and  domestic  life;  but  by 
far  the  greatest  part  of  every  life  must  be 
lived  within  the  walls  of  one's  own  mind 
and  heart.  In  public,  social  and  domestic 
life  a  man  may  be  able  to  get  others  to  do 
his  way,  he  may  find  it  possible  to  do  as 
others  desire,  or  he  may  find  a  compromise 
where  both  he  and  the  others  give  some 
ground  and  keep  some.  But  a  man  is,  him- 
self, the  greatest  factor  in  his  own  happi- 
ness or  disappointment;  for  he  must  take 
himself  as  he  is. 

Some  time  ago  I  read  what  might  be 
called  the  "spiritual  biography"  of  Mark 

27 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

Twain.  Of  course,  there  was  more  or  less 
of  the  "physical"  biography  in  it,  but  it  was 
the  inside  life's  story  that  startled  me. 
Mark  Twain  was  the  son  of  an  ambitious 
mother  who  was  married  to  a  man  she  did 
not  love,  and  Mark  himself  was  an  unwel- 
come child.  He  came  into  the  world  with 
prenatal  impressions  of  inferiority  and  un- 
welcomeness.  How  strong  his  mother's  feel- 
ings were  may  be  gathered  from  a  conver- 
sation between  herself  and  her  son,  after 
he  had  become  famous  as  a  writer.  She  said, 
"Mark,  you  were  a  delicate  child  and  you 
gave  me  more  anxiety  than  any  of  my  other 
children."  Becoming  interested,  the  famous 
son  asked,  "Why,  were  you  afraid  I  would 
die?"  "No,"  replied  the  mother,  "I  was 
afraid  you  would  not  die."  Though  spoken 
in  something  of  a  light  vein  at  the  time,  it, 
nevertheless  represented  the  feelings  which 
affected  the  domestic  atmosphere  in  which 
Mark  Twain  grew  up.  Along  with  this,  the 
mother  was  something  of  a  puritan  and  im- 
pressed the  demands  of  duty  and  the  call 
for  righteousness  strongly  upon  the  mind 
and  conscience  of  the  child.  As  a  result  the 

28 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 

child  was  tossed  between  the  billows  of 
conscious  debasement  and  the  .roaring 
breakers  of  lawful  restraint.  He  learned  to 
despise  himself,  and  then  he  interpreted 
others  by  his  own  feelings  and  despised 
them.  He  was  so  miserable  because  of  his 
self-hatred  that  he  frequently  considered 
suicide;  but  when  the  test  came  he  did  not 
have  the  courage  to  take  his  own  life,  and 
then  he  despised  himself  doubly  for  being  a 
coward.  He  despised  others  because  he 
thought  they  were  like  himself,  but  because 
he  could  not  and  would  not  correct  himself, 
he  did  not  attempt  to  correct  others.  He  was 
not  good  enough  to  be  a  reformer,  he  was  not 
hateful  enough  to  be  a  satirist,  so  he  com- 
promised on  humor;  but  he  did  not  laugh 
at  his  own  humor.  He  used  to  say  there 
will  be  no  humor  in  heaven.  He  hated  what- 
ever he  was  and  despised  whatever  he  did. 
He  wrote  and  lectured  to  make  a  living,  but 
he  thought  writing  and  lecturing  were  the 
meanest,  least-satisfying  endeavors  to 
which  one  could  possibly  give  his  time.  We 
have  been  amused  by  Mark  Twain's  humor, 
but  his  was  the  hollowest,  darkest,  hardest, 

29 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

most  desolate,  most  unsatisfactory  life  that 
he  himself  knew.  He  pictured  his  own  mis- 
ery in  the  waifs,  wharf  rats  and  blunderers 
of  his  fiction.  To  himself,  he  was  grotesque, 
deformed  and  absurd.  All  his  successes 
were  mere  conquests  of  the  outward  world: 
he  remained  a  prisoner  in  the  presence  of 
liberty;  he  starved  in  the  midst  of  plenty; 
he  was  blind,  though  in  a  garden  of  beauty; 
he  was  a  deaf  man  in  a  music  hall;  an  il- 
literate man  in  a  library  of  books;  a  sick 
man  at  a  feast;  an  unclothed  guest  at  a 
wedding;  a  sinner  in  heaven. 

A  man  is  happiest  who  needs  the  least, 
provided  his  satiety  is  real  and  not  imagi- 
nary. An  atrophied  appetite  is  ghastly,  but 
desire  that  is  properly  and  legitimately  met 
is  the  fulfillment  of  one  of  the  principal 
beatitudes.  Rich  and  worldly,  powerful 
Pharisees  inquired  for  the  kingdom  that 
cometh  with  outward  show,  and  died  amidst 
the  tyranny  of  Roman  sway.  Humble  fol- 
lowers of  "The  way"  rejoiced  in  a  liberty 
that  stripes  and  dungeons  could  not  de- 
stroy. With  the  King  the  crowned  head  of 
the  empire  of  heart  and  life,  there  is  peace 

30 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 

amidst  turmoil,  glory  amidst  shame,  free- 
dom in  bonds,  riches  in  poverty,  comfort 
in  bereavement,  joy  in  persecution,  friend- 
ship in  isolation,  and  life  in  death. 

We  will  never  be  able  to  change  our  cir- 
cumstances very  much,  but  God  can  make 
us  victors  over  our  circumstances.  Prayer 
often  changes  us  more  than  it  changes  the 
source  of  our  trials.  Grace  to  be  sick  is 
sometimes  a  greater  blessing  than  faith  for 
healing.  When  the  wine  runs  short  at  the 
marriage,  then  Christ  works  a  miracle.  It 
is  easy  for  one  to  charge  up  his  failures  to 
his  friends  and  associates,  but  the  test  of 
one's  real  worth  is  his  ability  to  "make 
good,"  not  his  aptness  in  making  excuses. 

Manhood  is  better  than  money,  character 
is  of  greater  account  than  reputation,  and 
personal  success  is  better  than  written 
credentials.  Your  real  triumphs  are  the 
victories  of  your  own  soul.  The  grace  of 
God  that  is  within  you  is  the  only  grace  of 
which  you  have  a  right  to  boast.  His  ability 
to  do  "exceeding  abundantly,  above  all  we 
ask  or  think"  is  measured  by  "the  power 
which  worketh  within  us."  It  is  not  a  very 

31 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

deep  religion  that  sings  exclusively  of  the 
future  millennial  when  contests  are  all  past, 
or  of  heaven  where  no  temptations  and  sor- 
rows can  come.  It  is  a  better  religion  that 
can  testify  to  the  present  incarnation  of 
Christ  within  your  own  body  and  of  a  faith 
that  overcometh  the  world.  The  boat  can 
ride  triumphant  on  the  water  so  long  as  it 
keeps  all  the  water  on  the  outside;  and  the 
Christian  is  proof  against  the  world  with- 
out so  long  as  he  is  clean  from  the  world 
within.  Every  reformation,  every  organiza- 
tion that  has  the  human  element  in  it — in 
fact?  every  thing  that  "cometh  with  obser- 
vation" will  be  more  or  less  disappointing; 
but  that  heart  kingdom  of  righteousness 
and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  de- 
pending upon  no  material  substance  or 
fickle  creature  outside  of  yourself,  should 
be  your  everlasting  inheritance  in  the  Ever- 
lasting Father. 

I  would  estimate  your  possessions,  not 
by  the  size  of  your  tax  receipts,  not  by 
the  breadth  of  your  fertile  acreage,  not  by 
the  location  of  your  city  blocks,  not  by  the 
fullness  of  your  bank  deposits,  not  by 

32 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  Is  WITHIN  You 

the  texture  of  the  coat  you  wear,  not  even 
by  the  rank  of  social  clan  to  which  you  be- 
long, but  by  the  grace  of  your  spirit  and 
the  measure  of  your  mind;  for  "the  king- 
dom of  God  is  within  you." 


33 


THE  LAW  OF  SACRIFICE 


HOITIHOA?  1O  WAJ  3HT 


TO  23  TAMIT83  3MOS 


oonuo  nu  ion  f:i  yi 
e!ii;9'{  ngyofi  heil  9v 
.i.syli  r-x  ?;g9b«ot  as  si  Jniq«  bnA  .ojifi 
tbliib  B  esTj^i^imoftl^iiifi^I  cKMiW" 
d  I  ri9fiw  Jud  :bliffo  i;  as 


.\BWJ;  .?;ni;Jijq  eufl  rdoDUjpua  B  few  -n^rij 

w,  bii'nd  l)«:o§  ?j;  o>;£ffi  ojio  oHw  a'r»;;n  A>"/ 
Change  reiquires  sacrifice,  whether  that 

'^£wg  rS^irSJ  »92^  'i'>Jr'fn 

hange  is  for  the  better  or  for 
/D  TOiRn  10  .^ofin-ru  orft  a^DB 


VVIJ  §l    "      i"    .V-  ft '  * '  -i  •i".      >""»i    G/U*>1     UUbUGIJU 

.No  one  can  both,' eat  his  cake  and  stmliave 
Offfi  S29fina9Tl  ori  I  ..gvBiTpj  n-i^u  vocTarlX 
it."  It  one  presses  forward  to  .things  which 

OflJ  OJ  VBWBrn9VI2  ^Efl   oTirlo  'Kll  U>rM>£;UV< 

are  ahead,  he  must  "forget  the^  thin 


.    . 

friB9ip  vi 
to  Cana 


'af»    >fm 
ave  tbe.  wil 
no  rurj 


'r          'af»    >fm      n  n  :   n  i 
are    ein.    .e  must  leave  tbe.  wilderness 


.to  get  into  Canaan,  and  Athene  were  some 

Jf-SLTOilOCt   T:nj;    9D|19IT9aX9    10    TlfSL-Sni   rf.L    11 

good  things  in  the  wilderness..  The  taber- 
loa  ,emB9.Tp  mB9iD  oi  ono  89LdBn9  n^iavv 
nacle,. perished  when  me  .temple  was  built, 
07  vniifii;  o/D  To  ?.?.ol  '>fij  m  gjftnpBg  >L'y;-ii:r. 

__      ^       J_T_      _        J_    _   1-     _  __!_!__  l> Tl 


died  when  isenjamm. was  born,  and, lite  is 
Yrfmoy  Jo  srtotriv  art]  vd  ci  )3D 
sustained  by  death. 'The  joys  and  pleasiires 
Pni'^J  X197J3  obloa  mn  nnrn  £  pn/i      . 
of  childhood  rwill  .not  abide  the  .wisdom  of 
;  •  o  '  far.'*  jBnJ  §flfla9jl  9gnBiia  9fij  "ioafnorn 


e 

r> 


,     But  we  can  not  jescape^  cpange— we  can 

not  stand  still.  "Decay  sets  m  where, growth 
:(T,  orfFBppa  I  ri'Jnw  jf;a  JooT/io  jgfii^niaa 
leaves  off.  r  Atrophy  is  rthe. price  of  inactiv- 

(Y-.  nuObf!  bifjoau  njBol  i9ifB9n  B,  viirq  o.1 
ity .  Toolay  is.  the,  tomorrow  we  de^iredj  or 

THflv/  oj  j'jm  OJ  oofinoEa  of  btu\  l  TIJ«L   JSBI 


37 

se 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

feared  yesterday.  There  is  not  an  ounce 
of  the  body  left  that  we  had  seven  years 
ago.  And  spirit  is  as  restless  as  flesh. 
"When  I  was  a  child,  I  thought  as  a  child, 
I  understood  as  a  child ;  but  when  I  became 
a  man,  I  put  away  childish  things."  But 
there  was  a  sacrifice  in  this  putting  away. 
No  man's  wife  can  make  as  good  bread  as 
his  "mother  used  to  make";  because  the 
husband  lacks  the  keenness  of  relish  that 
the  boy  used  to  have.  The  freshness  and 
wonder  of  the  child  has  given  away  to  the 
maturity  and  logic  of  the  man.  Youth  sees 
visions,  while  age  can  only  dream  dreams. 
It  is  the  gift  of  experience  and  conquest 
which  enables  one  to  dream  dreams,  but 
there  is  sacrifice  in  the  loss  of  the  ability  to 
span  the  chasms  and  bridge  the  mighty 
deep  by  the  visions  of  youth. 

And  a  man  can  not  do  every  thing.  I  re- 
member the  strange  feeling  that  came  over 
me  when  a  stripling  youth  ran  past  me  in 
the  course.  Once  I  held  the  distinction  of 
being  fast  on  foot,  but  when  I  became  able 
to  carry  a  heavier  load,  I  could  not  run  so 
fast.  But  I  had  to  sacrifice  to  get  to  where 

38 


THE  LAW  OF  SACRIFICE 

I  could  class  as  a  lifter  of  heavy  loads.  My 
little  son  challenged  me  with  the  words,  "I 
can  do  something  that  you  can  not  do."  I 
was  not  ready  to  give  up  until  he  offered 
to  "crawl  through  a  smaller  crack  in  the 
fence." 

Then  there  are  limitations  within  the 
sphere  of  one's  capabilities.  I  tried  (just 
one  year)  to  operate  a  farm  as  a  side  line 
to  serving  as  the  president  of  a  college  and 
preaching  in  the  summer  campmeetings.  I 
still  think  I  might  operate  a  farm,  but  I 
am  sure  I  can  not  do  it  without  sacrificing 
some  other  tasks  which  I  hope  to  accom- 
plish. According  to  the  law  of  physics  a 
material  body  can  not  occupy  two  distinct 
positions  at  the  same  time,  any  more  than 
two  material  bodies  can  occupy  the  same 
space  at  the  same  time.  A  man  may  have  a 
vocation  and  an  avocation,  but  he  will  not 
excel  in  two  vocations  at  once.  "The  jack 
of  all  trades  is  usually  good  at  none." 

But  a  man  can  not  do  all  that  he  would 
really  love  to  do,  so  there  is  sacrifice  in 
surrendering  the  privilege  of  doing  many 
right  and  good  things  which  he  can  not 

39 


SOME  i  ESTIMATES/  C(F: 

do  because  of j  the  .demands  that :  sarfc !  upon 
himi'biow  oftt  itJiw  arrt  bagiiollBrb  not  olttil 

A  ybung  man  usually  /has  a  set  goal ,  that 
he  feeds  he  icanj  afford :  to  use  every  means 
for  reaching;  and  he  f  eels ;  that  he  will  be 
satisfied  if  he  can  only  reach  this  goal.  But 
as  time  goes  on  i  a  man  loses  much .  of  the 
distinctness  of  hisi  ideal -and  flounders  naor,^ 
or  less  iaraidsi  (uncertainties.  He  wants  'Ho 
eat  his  cake;  and) stilL  have -ifc.'^;  Just  as  he 
gets  ready  to  eat  his;  cake,  the  desires  to  still 
haVe '  it  restrains ' him.  Then  whea  -he  Was 
about  decided  to  keep; his  cake;,  his  desire 
to  eat  it  unsettles  him.  So  he  flounders  be- 
tween the  mistakes  of  *  the  spendthrift  arid 
those .'•  of <  the  miser.  Most  people  lose  ttbe 
first  good  factor  in  success  by  failing  toilet 
started  in  time.  I  do  not  know  where  the 
adage;aa  poor  beginning imakes  a  good  end- 
ing"^ originated  but ,  anyway  I  it  is ,  <  false. 
The  man  who  starts  in:  time  has  'scored  a 
good  point.;  jj-  i  [IfLn«!J  A  flobjn.t  !lr,  1< 

Since  sacrifice  must  be  made  \  a  man  i  must 
decide  the  basis  upon  which-  he  will  m'ake 
his  choice  of  the  things  that  he  will  sacri- 
fice. ; :  Most  vdliics  mayi  be  distinguished  as 

40 


-thing  ,  jQr;jpay.  SH$jgJ|pRps    y:o;u 


a  ,fal^hqo$  or  cpi^ait  ^a,  ff  lon,y  f  pr  tJ>e?^Jr 
lions  QJ^.Rockefe^?;  9^rfyp%fM)ul4ol!S¥ 
wo^l4;  have  j  a  ,  fal^  }  ;notipn  fa\  f[v^ue^f  ,  ,  .A 
man'g,  :  JiQi^ar  fe  ^ypft^i  ,  eartjife  Y^l^ps  w  ,  ;  ! 
;.  0?he^1  quantity  »  p^opJy  .enr^  i^tq  ^q^ 


a  goodi  thing  ;  £or(  .tpd^r  tjiat  .  ^ilfl,  fce  /a,  gj^eat 
^etrin^pt  wh^n  a  ,  4eca(J^  i^  ppn$if(f$f$n  Al^- 
eohol  speeds  jup  t 


lend,  ;te, 


jonj  5  an<i  -  dp 
year  than  he  would 
-tjie  {lim^dS^JBM^lJ^sllfW}  of 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

a  century  the  prepared  man  will  likely  be  the 
only  one  left  in  the  race.  Often  I  have  seen 
young  men  quit  going  to  school  to  accept  a 
job  out  of  consideration  for  the  money  that 
he  would  receive  the  first  year!  And  I  have 
seen  young  preachers  rush  out  with  a  smat- 
tering of  learning  to  accept  the  pastorate 
of  a  church,  or  to  enter  the  evangelistic 
work  on  the  plea  that  "time  is  too  short" 
for  him  to  spend  any  more  of  it  in  prepa- 
ration. And  I  have  seen  that  young  man 
"come  to  himself"  later  to  find  out  that 
he  was  lured  by  a  glitter  that  was  not  pro- 
duced by  real  yellow  gold.  A  dollar  today 
is  not  always  worth  the  sacrifice  that  it  re- 
quires when  the  earning  power  of  a  lifetime 
is  compared  with  it.  Souls  were  dying  all 
the  years  of  His  minority,  yet  Jesus  waited 
patiently  until  He  was  qualified  for  the 
task  of  preaching  salvation  to  men;  and 
surely  no  one  will  question  but  that  the 
three  years,  after  He  was  really  prepared, 
were  really  sufficient. 

In  the  days  of  the  Apostle  Paul  and  the 
church  at  Corinth,  martyrdom  was  so  com- 
monly the  price  of  professing  Christianity, 

42 


THE  LAW  OF  SACRIFICE 

that  baptism,  the  sign  of  the  Christian  pro- 
fession, came,  also,  to  be  considered  the 
mark  of  death.  There  were  not  many  hypo- 
crites in  those  days;  it  cost  too  much  to  be- 
come even  a  professor  of  Christianity.  But 
the  Apostle  reasoned  on  the  resurrection, 
and  concluded  that  the  Christian  profession 
and  its  very  probable  consequence,  martyr- 
dom, were  justified  on  the  ground  of  the 
promise  and  certainty  of  life  beyond  death. 
He  said,  in  substance,  that  it  was  all  right 
to  sacrifice  the  present  mortal  life  in  the 
interest  of  the  future  immortal  life.  His 
theory  was  that  one  should  sacrifice  the 
lower  plane  of  life  for  the  higher.  To  "eat, 
drink,  and  be  merry"  is  the  philosophy  of 
the  man  to  whom  today  is  all.  Since  the 
dead  are  to  be  resurrected,  the  matter  of  a 
few  more  or  a  few  less  days  on  this  side  of 
the  resurrection  is  not  a  serious  considera- 
tion. 

Jesus  also,  said,  "He  that  loseth  his 
life  shall  save  it,  and  he  that  preserveth 
his  life  shall  lose  it."  That  is,  he  that  sac- 
rifices his  eternal  interests  upon  the  altar 
of  time  is  giving  eternal  happiness  for  a 

43 


Ian    Wmar;re.d}bjy(  sorrow  and,  decay., 


absolute  ;,  ; 
lo^k,   p^y  up9i)  the  jlpalpy.  girl; 


e^.  f  the,  ,  e,  state.  t  of  . 
^|ut  cjiijdhpqd  sorrows,  and  losses  ;are  as^e 

effll  ft* 


,  wayer,  .because  of 
.t^ie)  j^ajlyjire,  of,  the  j^ank,  ;  draw  ,bavqk  ,f  rom  the 
yyilJ!  ofnpod  because  jSprdid,  .^rlcJUp 
understand  and  malign  them.  But 
time  we.rw^l  loob  ;  back  ;  .upon,  these  little 


jri  \yere;  noticed;  at  all.  ,;    •  \\  ?\  < 
^  being  "baptized 
,f  the  hope,  of  a.bet- 

44 


!  the  ' 
&fp  'A 
to  ifty'phlate, 


when  the  laws  of  man 


the 


Met^StS  o'f  lb®d^'*isa  ttiitiH  JfettH- 
1'  will  -•  vcytef  f  6^  the  A 


ate  '  dti  Var  ia'nce^  J  I  f  wilt  '  fi 
^)i'ce'  Id  ^6b6y>G 

-^  all  thef'^^'H^'befefi  c-tekr 


Whicn  Ihfey  Will  ^  sacrifice-'^  f  Jaieph'  'Mtn 


'fc6at  "iti 

pleasure1  'and  prohibtibtiy 

!iri  '  tfrdeir  f  .  to;  pf^ster^e4  '•  >  Mfe°  '  Virttte';  '  Mos'ds 

'  ^chofee  i-athei-  to  Siif  f  feV  a!f  f  lidtitjf#  '  WrtH  >  thie 

people  of  God,  than 

fof  shi  fo 

'45 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures 
of  Egypt:  for  he  looked  unto  the  recom- 
pense of  reward.  By  faith  he  forsook 
Egypt,  not  fearing  the  wrath  of  the  king: 
for  he  endured,  as  seeing  him  who  is  in- 
visible." Abraham  left  his  home  in  Ur  of 
the  Chaldees  and  lived  in  tents  with  Isaac 
and  Jacob  because  he  sought  a  city  to  come. 
The  three  Hebrew  children  did  not  ask  for 
a  second  trial,  but  assured  the  king  at  once 
that  they  would  not  forsake  the  true  God, 
whether  He  preserved  them  or  let  them  per- 
ish. Job  would  not  give  up  his  integrity, 
even  when  every  present  proof  of  its  profit 
had  disappeared. 

Physical  suffering  is  better  than  spiritual 
condemnation.  Sickness  is  preferable  to 
sin.  Social  ostracism  is  a  prize  to  be  sought 
as  compared  with  estrangement  from  God. 
Ignorance  is  less  dark  than  moral  evil. 
Political  tyranny  is  but  a  dim  type  of  soul 
oppression.  Physical  slavery  is  less  bitter 
than  the  vassalage  of  Satan.  Imprisonment 
in  the  dungeon  of  the  persecutor  is  liberty 
as  compared  with  enmeshment  in  the  thral- 
dom of  the  Devil.  Death  is  glory  when 

46 


THE  LAW  OF  SACRIFICE 

damnation  is  its  alternative.  In  every  case 
when  the  sacrifice  lies  between  the  mem- 
bers of  any  of  these  couplets,  being  "bap- 
tized for  the  dead,"  means  choosing  the  lat- 
ter member. 

But  everything  is  not  "white  or  black"; 
some  things  are  gray.  And  choice  between 
the  best  and  the  worst  constitutes  one  of 
the  smallest  exercises  of  the  volitional 
powers.  We  must  come  on  up  to  a  closer 
discrimination  and  choose  between  the  good 
of  life:  we  must  go  always  in  the  quest  of 
the  best.  Entirely  within  the  scope  of  the 
Christian's  sphere,  Paul  said,  "I  am  in  a 
strait  betwixt  two."  A  useful  course  in 
apostolic  ministration  was  one  alternative, 
home  and  rest  in  heaven  were  the  other. 
The  apostle  started  away  back;  he  said, 
personally,  I  would  prefer  heaven,  but  fur- 
ther life  would  be  more  useful;  so,  I  choose 
to  abide.  He  followed  his  same  principle 
of  being  "baptized  for  the  dead"  in  that  he 
buried  the  present  pleasure  for  the  sake  of 
the  future  and  permanent  prize.  It  often 
occurs  that  there  are  two  or  more  courses, 
each  of  which  is  legitimate,  and,  within  it- 

47 


rightq  but  .weitianiubt 

;  rbaso^rcet  •  jdmsiilelexiti  ita^or  Itheodae 
j|nifolve^^ttf0<bigfaes!tJ  motive;  ifoHowi- 
-ilng  lHis^riile,oiiire^wiH)rnev.er  go 
is  a  matter  of  my  own  pleasurbntain 
aidghbbn^s  plwdfift,  Iomast£(taite(  the)  itoaty  of 
it.  .  -Jf  •%  isunygowfa  honor 
imust  tdkei)fthelswiy3ro:f 
fGod^gioryii}Ifiit  is  a  i  choice  betiiveen  teril- 
poral  gain  andr;eternal  r^daes,  >Wmu8t')eieqt 
^tte.wa^  that/leald^  to 
'iaitfern4tesriareitempdral)service 
^M^'jof  $Qute, 


ni  ToifotirfpUeiJile^mirids^'thfeib^stl  always 


fefeft  that'  we'aref  I  called 

thiatife  atohitetynbt  bfefetx^air 
-wei  itoafeine'l^hat  oiir'Siac 

upon  td 

m[(ft  )Withbut;)jiisfc;afid 
e  cdmjiensfeltiori.  f>Wet  attempt  itcl  be- 
•liever  f  that  twe>  Jai^'idrivepj  to-dcxj'sorrJefthingfe 
rfotf  (  ndl  reasdnrj  ohlyri  just  j^pefeause  utbe^  ^afcte 
.  dif  fictdt^  ;ory  which  fis  jJUstiad)b&d|J  weufeaa: 
that  'the/  gbod  hataibe^n'jniaidef'dl£fidu>ltfjii9t 


THE  LAW  OF  SACRIFICE 

to  tempt  us  to  leave  it  alone.  We  mourn 
over  the  loss  of  the  things  we  sacrificed  in 
order  to  gain  the  higher  levels  as  though 
the  loss  of  them  were  a  real  disaster.  Even 
though  we  gain  the  gates  of  life,  we  still 
bewail  the  eye  we  plucked  out  and  the 
hand  and  foot  we  cut  off  in  order  to  pass 
the  portal  of  the  haven  we  desired.  But  no 
one  will  come  into  the  better  life  without 
cuttjng  off  the  members  which  held  him  to 
the  old  existence  "Ye  can  not  serve  God 
and  Mammon."  No  one  will  have  part  in 
the  resurrection  "out  from  among  the  dead" 
unless  he  has  chosen  to  be  baptized  into  the 
loss  of  all  things  that  disqualify  for  it. 

Entrance  into  higher  planes  of  life  re- 
quire sacrifice  of  some  things  on  the  lower 
planes  just  as  devotion  to  the  lower  de- 
mands relinquishment  to  one's  claim  on  the 
higher.  A  youth  must  decide  whether 
he  will  take  immediate  money-making, 
pleasure  for  pleasure's  sake,  leisure  and  a 
general  good  time  or  whether  he  will  devote 
his  attention  to  books,  study  and  hard  work 
in  order  that  he  may  secure  an  education. 
In  the  former  list,  I  do  not  intend  to  in- 

49 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

elude  dishonest  money-getting  nor  sinful 
pleasure,  the  choice  is  within  the  scope  of 
what  is  right,  and  is  only  a  matter  of  tak- 
ing the  best.  If  he  chooses  the  higher  plane, 
he  will  likely  pay  the  price  in  the  currency 
of  the  lower  sphere. 

I  do  not  know  whether  God  has  a  first, 
and  second,  and  even  a  third  choice  for  His 
children  or  not.  Sometimes  it  seems  that 
He  has.  Moses  might  have  been  God's  sole 
representative  at  the  court  of  Pharaoh,  but 
he  pleaded  his  lack  of  eloquence,  and  had  to 
divide  the  glory  with  Aaron.  Joash  might 
have  smitten  Syria  until  he  had  utterly  con- 
sumed it,  if  he  had  been  desperate  enough. 
But  he  smote  the  ground  with  the  prophetic 
arrows  but  thrice  and  thus  limited  his  vic- 
tories to  that  number  (2  Kings  13:18,  19). 
Though  Moses  was  denied  entrance  into 
the  promised  land  because  of  the  outbreak 
of  pride  in  the  smiting  of  the  rock,  yet  God 
did  not  altogether  reject  him.  David  found 
mercy  with  God,  but  his  sins  brought  death 
to  his  child,  plague  upon  Israel  and  re- 
bellion against  his  throne.  Apparently,  one 
can  be  reduced  to  the  ranks  in  the  army  of 
so 


THE  LAW  OF  SACRIFICE 

the  Lord  without  being  given  a  dishonor- 
able discharge.  Of  course,  no  one  can  be 
saved  during  rebellion  against  the  will  of 
God,  and  the  rejection  of  "God's  first 
choice"  is  frequently  the  rejection  of  ever- 
lasting life.  Still,  it  is  bad  enough  for  one 
to  be  restricted  to  a  second  choice  because 
of  having  rejected  the  first. 

One  of  the  saddest  sights  to  me,  is  that 
of  a  man  trying  to  gather  up  the  tangled 
and  broken  threads  of  his  life  when  it  is 
all  but  too  late.  In  youth  he  chose  the 
lower  plane  and  wasted  his  fortune  of  op- 
portunity in  riotous  living.  In  maturity  he 
entered  school  only  to  find  that  the  brain 
cells  which  were  so  clear  of  obstructions  in 
youth  are  now  clogged  and  all  but  sealed. 
He  struggles  to  gain  the  place  which  God 
offered  him  once,  but  he  finds  that  he  can 
not  qualify — youth  is  the  time  for  educa- 
tion. I  have  seen  the  man  who  was  called  to 
preach  the  gospel,  linger  with  the  fisher- 
man's nets,  at  the  receipt  of  customs,  in  the 
counting  house,  or  on  the  farm  until  he  had 
only  time  enough  left  to  attain  to  the  rank 
and  dignity  of  sergeant  when  he  should 

51 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

have  been  a  general.  Called  to  the  glorious 
work  of  the  foreign  missionary,  many  have 
accepted  an  easier  berth,  only  to  spend  life, 
devoted  though  it  may  be,  in  the  restless- 
ness to  which  "might-have-beens"  are  al- 
ways heir.  We  all  would  like  the  highest 
and  best  things,  if  we  could  have  the  others 
also.  None  of  us  would  miss  that  better 
resurrection  if  it  were  not  that  it  requires 
the  surrender  of  the  present  ease  and 
pleasure  in  order  that  it  may  be  secured. 
It  is  the  price  that  holds  us  back. 

But  the  dead  shall  rise  again.  In  the 
broader  application,  we  say.  every  sur- 
render on  the  lower  plane  is  justifiable. 
David  said,  "A  day  in  thy  court  is  better 
than  a  thousand"  outside.  One  day  of  the 
life  that  is  just  what  it  ought  to  be  is  worth 
a  thousand  days  on  the  lower  plane !  A  year 
equal  to  a  Millennium!  Oh  how  easy  it  is 
to  get  ahead  when,  like  Mary,  we  have 
"chosen  the  better  part."  There  is  no  man 
that  has  left  house,  or  brethren,  or  sisters, 
or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children, 
or  lands,  for  my  sake,  and  for  the  gospel's 
sake,  but  he  shall  receive  an  hundred  fold 

52 


THE  LAW  OF  SACRIFICE 

now  in  this  time,  houses,  and  brethren,  and 
sisters,  and  mothers,  and  children,  and 
lands,  with  persecutions;  and  in  the  world 
to  come  eternal  life."  To  choose  Christ 
means,  in  the  practical  things  of  life,  to  al- 
ways choose  the  highest  possible  good.  It 
means  to  deny  yourself  in  fleshly  appetites, 
earthly  desires,  and  worldly  ambitions. 
Yet,  it  means  that  Christ  has  reserved  His 
choicest  and  best  for  the  one  who  sets  his 
hope  all  together  upon  Him.  It  means  the 
actual  discovery  of  the  secret  which  the  an- 
cient alchemists  sought  of  turning  baser 
substances  into  gold;  for  it  means  to  take 
the  things  which  had  no  more  than  a  paltry 
earthly  value  and  turn  them  into  units  of 
wealth  that  will  endure  when  the  rust  has 
destroyed  the  iron  of  Carnegie,  and  canker 
has  eaten  the  gold  of  the  Morgans,  and  the 
moth  has  consumed  the  purple  of  kings. 
How  foolish  of  us  not  to  exchange  the  fad- 
ing beauty  of  a  worldly  career  for  the  glory 
of  the  life  that  endureth  forever!  How 
foolish  for  us  to  be  fascinated  by  the  varied 
colors  of  a  life  that  is  no  more  enduring 

S3 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

than  that  of  the  moth,  when  there  is  open 
to  us  an  entrance  into  the  indescribable 
splendors  of  the  life  that  is  free  from  death! 


54 


MAN'S  CRY  FOR  THE  SUPERNATURAL 


MAN'S  CRY  FOR  THE  SUPERNATURAL 


"/  beseech  thee,  shew  me  thy  glory"  (Ex. 
33:18). 

For  a  brief  space  now  and  then  the  world 
has  become  so  immersed  in  materialism 
that  the  majority  of  men  have  seemed  con- 
tented to  live  the  life  of  the  beast,  ending 
in  oblivion.  But  with  these  few,  brief  ex- 
ceptions, which  have,  by  no  means,  in- 
cluded all  the  men  who  have  lived  during 
their  day,  the  world  of  men  has  cried  out 
for  something  which  is  instinctively  felt 
to  be  beyond  the  veil  of  the  time  and  sense 
world. 

The  objects  and  expressions  of  primitive 
and  barbarian  worship  are  often  ludicrous, 
mysterious  and  disgusting ;  but  down  in  the 
sources  of  the  worshipping  tendencies  in  the 
hearts  of  all,  there  is  a  pathetic  cry  that 
can  not  be  stilled. 

Calvin  and  others  of  his  day  believed 
that  all  religions  except  Judaism  and  Chris- 

57 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

tianity,  were  born  of  the  Devil.  But  a  more 
intimate  inquiry  has  convinced  men  of  later 
times,  that  even  the  heathen  are  "feeling 
after  God,  if  perchance  they  may  find 
Him."  They  are  in  the  dark  and  make  but 
little  success  of  their  search;  but  their  re- 
ligion is  a  crude  and  distorted  expression  of 
the  call  for  the  supernatural  that  the  true 
God  planted  within  their  breasts. 

Amidst  all  the  polytheism  and  religious 
wretchedness  of  their  times,  the  most  sin- 
cere among  the  Greeks  and  Romans  used  to 
prophesy  of  a  time  when  the  chief  among 
the  gods  would  come  and  walk  among  mor- 
tals. While  all  the  factors  of  the  national 
religion  were  still  functioning  and  the 
glory  of  the  earthly  house  was  still  shining, 
Isaiah,  among  the  Hebrews,  told  of  the 
"Child  born  and  the  Son  given." 

The  magi  of  the  far  east,  as  well  as  the 
seers  at  Jerusalem,  were  eager  at  the  sight 
of  the  strange  "Star  of  Bethlehem,"  and 
welcomed  the  answer  to  their  longing  for 
the  manifestation  of  God  to  men. 

The  religions  of  the  ancient  world  had 
failed,  and  the  long  delay  of  the  hope  of 

58 


MAN'S  CRY  FOR  THE  SUPERNATURAL 

Israel  had  caused  the  hearts  of  many  of  the 
faithful  to  grow  sick,  but  when  the  apostles 
went  out  to  proclaim  Christ  crucified  and 
risen  again,  the  answers  of  their  opposers 
were  faint.  The  heads  of  men  objected,  but 
their  hearts  hoped  that  the  story  was  true. 
The  boldness  of  assurance  gave  unusual 
power  to  the  testimonies  of  believers  on 
Christ,  and  others  could  not  "resist  the 
power  and  wisdom  with  which  they  spoke." 

Lack  of  proper  enlightenment  during  the 
past  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  has  given 
rise  to  many  crude  interpretations  and 
superstitious  practices.  But  through  all  the 
rubbish  of  burning  candles,  counting  beads, 
wearing  robes,  marching  on  crusades,  tell- 
ing of  strange  visions,  and  going  on  long 
pilgrimages  there  was  a  strong  faith  in 
the  supernatural,  and  a  pathetic  call  for  its 
revelation.  Foolish  men  tried  to  assist  God  by 
telling  strange  stories  of  the  power  revealed 
in  relics  and  of  the  revelation  of  God's  will 
through  ordeals,  oracles,  charms  and 
dreams. 

During  the  last  century  there  was  a  shift- 
ing toward  the  deifying  of  the  intellect. 

59 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

The  arrogance  of  modern  "headiness" 
stilled  the  cry  of  many  a  heart  and  soul 
that  was  hungry  for  God.  The  intellect  had 
triumphed  in  so  many  things  that  many 
scrupled  not  to  call  it  supreme,  and  the 
very  audacity  of  their  assumptions  won 
many  an  argument  for  worshipers  of  the 
god  of  mind. 

But  right  out  of  the  midst  of  this  elegant,, 
modern  idolatry,  and  following  on  after  it, 
as  I  believe  and  hope,  there  have  come  and 
are  coming  new  expressions  of  the  old  crav- 
ing for  assistance  from  the  miraculous. 
The  unusual  growth  of  spiritism  since  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  has  given  rise  to  many 
expressions  of  fear  lest  it  should  become 
the  substitute  for  true  Christianity. 
Though  weird  and  disorderly,  spiritism  is 
no  worse  than  materialism  or  intellectual- 
ism.  Whether  God  or  the  Devil  is  the 
author,  there  are  some  things  in  spiritism 
that  can  not  be  explained  by  the  "rules," 
and  this  is  what  makes  it  so  satisfying  to 
many  who  have  for  a  long  time  been  labor- 
ing to  believe  that  there  is  no  realm  beyond 
nature. 

60 


MAN'S  CRY  FOR  THE  SUPERNATURAL 

Within  the  circle  of  orthodox  protestant- 
ism there  has  been  a  long  standing  tendency 
to  drift  away  from  the  miraculous  in  every 
way.  Conversion  in  many  places  means  no 
more  than  a  change  of  mind.  Or  at  most, 
it  is  interpreted  as  an  intellectual  matter  to 
be  proved  by  the  practice  of  Christian 
morality.  Demonstration  of  religious  feel- 
ing has  been  frowned  upon,  and  worship 
has  become  ritualistic.  The  purifying  of 
the  heart  by  faith  and  the  enduement  of 
power  by  the  incoming  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
if  preached  at  all,  are  so  compromised  that 
no  one  thinks  of  receiving  a  definite  witness 
from  God  to  the  reception  of  such  realities. 
While  this  situation  has  laid  the  foundation 
for  the  progress  of  spiritism,  it  has  also,  be- 
come the  occasion  of  turning  many  to  seek 
God  with  greater  earnestness.  If  the  com- 
mon people  accept  a  religion  that  is  all 
head  and  no  heart,  they  do  so  sadly  and 
reluctantly;  for  their  hearts  crave  to  know 
Him. 

The  church's  failure  to  preach  the  Scrip- 
tural teaching  regarding  the  power  and  will- 
ingness of  God  to  heal  the  body  in  answer 

61 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

to  the  prayer  of  faith  has  opened  the  door 
for  Christian  Science  and  other  substitutes 
for  the  real. 

Empty  denunciation  of  "speaking  in  un- 
known tongues"  and  other  phenomena 
which  approach  "the  border  land  of  the 
supernatural"  will  not  accomplish  much 
good.  To  deny  a  hungry  man  his  barley 
loaf  without  offering  him  anything  better 
is  really  cruelty. 

But  God  still  lives  and  reveals  Himself 
to  men.  This  dispensation  is  glorious  be- 
cause of  the  fulfillment  of  the  Saviour's 
promise  of  a  closer  proximity  to  God  than 
had  ever  been  known  before.  In  the  old 
days  God  was  before,  above,  behind,  be- 
neath and  around  His  people,  but  the  new 
promise  was  that  He  would  be  in  them.  In 
the  old  days,  he  visited  with  Abraham  be- 
neath the  oak  at  Mamre,  but  in  the  new 
day  He  promised  to  abide  with  His  people 
forever.  In  the  old  days  God  revealed  Him- 
self in  dreams,  physical  deliverances  and  in 
the  body  of  His  Son;  manifestations  which 
must  reach  the  real  man  through  the 
medium  of  his  senses,  but  in  the  new  time, 

62 


MAN'S  CRY  FOR  THE  SUPERNATURAL 

He  makes  Himself  known  by  His  Spirit 
directly  to  man's  spirit.  In  the  old  time  He 
showed  His  glory  to  the  High  Priest  once 
a  year  when  the  priest  went  into  the  pres- 
ence of  the  holy  shekinah  behind  the  veil, 
but  the  veil  was  rent  through  Christ,  and 
now  the  way  into  the  holiest  is  made  mani- 
fest to  all. 

A  Unitarian's  Christ  will  not  meet  the 
world's  heart  cry.  No  matter  how  faultless 
the  philosophy,  no  matter  how  sound  the 
polity,  no  matter  how  noted  the  philan- 
thropy, no  matter  how  inviting  the  applica- 
tion of  sociology,  no  system  of  religion  is 
going  to  fill  the  bill  that  does  not  teach 
men  how  to  apprehend  God  experimental- 
ly. The  words  of  George  Matherson  are 
applicable  to  more  people  than  we  perhaps 
realize:  "My  heart  needs  Thee,  O  Lord; 
my  heart  needs  Thee!  No  part  of  my  be- 
ing needs  Thee  like  my  heart.  All  else  with- 
in me  can  be  fulfilled  by  Thy  gifts.  My 
hunger  can  be  satisfied  by  daily  bread.  My 
thirst  can  be  allayed  by  earthly  waters.  My 
cold  can  be  removed  by  household  fires. 
My  weariness  can  be  relieved  by  outward 

63 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

rest.  But  no  outward  thing  can  make  my 
heart  pure.  The  calmest  day  will  not  calm 
my  passions.  The  fairest  scene  will  not 
beautify  my  soul.  The  richest  music  will 
not  make  harmony  within.  The  breezes  can 
cleanse  the  air,  but  no  breeze  can  cleanse  the 
spirit.  This  world  has  not  provided  for  my 
heart.  It  has  provided  for  my  eye;  it  has 
provided  for  my  ear ;  it  has  provided  for  my 
touch ;  it  has  provided  for  my  taste ;  it  has 
provided  for  my  sense  of  beauty,  but  it  has 
not  provided  for  my  heart.  Provide  Thou 
for  my  heart,  O  Lord!  It  is  the  only  un- 
winged  bird  in  all  creation;  give  it  wings, 
O  Lord!  Earth  has  failed  to  give  it  wings; 
its  very  power  of  loving  has  often  dragged 
it  in  the  mire.  Be  Thou  the  strength  of 
my  heart!  Be  Thou  its  fortress  in  tempta- 
tion, its  shield  in  remorse,  its  covert  in  the 
storm,  its  star  in  the  night,  its  voice  in  the 
solitude!  Guide  it  in  its  gloom;  help  it  in 
its  heat;  direct  it  in  its  doubt;  calm  it  in 
its  conflict;  fan  it  in  its  faintness;  prompt 
it  in  its  perplexity;  lead  it  through  its 
labyrinths;  raise  it  from  its  ruins!  I  can 

64 


MAN'S  CRY  FOR  THE  SUPERNATURAL 

not  rule  this  heart  of  mine;  keep  it  under 
the  shadow  of  Thine  own  wings." 

True,  some  are  satisfied  with  the  human 
spectacular  and  are  easy  victims  of  shallow 
substitutes;  but  there  is  a  real  answer  to 
the  prayer  of  the  soul  that  will  not  be  satis- 
fied with  any  thing  else.  Elijah  stood  in 
the  door  of  the  cave  while  the  earthquake 
passed,  but  God  was  not  in  that.  The 
whirlwind  passed,  also,  but  God  was  not 
revealed.  The  fire  appeared,  but  yet  God 
was  silent.  After  all,  the  "still  small  voice" 
of  God  called  out  and  the  persistent  old 
prophet  was  there  to  hear.  In  like  manner 
today,  when  one  will  brush  aside  all  shams 
and  substitutes  and  hunt  "out  God  with  the 
never-to-be-denied  petition,  "I  beseech 
thee,  show  me  thy  glory,"  God  will  make 
Himself  known. 

The  epochs  in  the  revelation  of  God  to 
the  individual  are  the  birth  of  the  Spirit 
and  the  baptism  with  the  Spirit.  The  prog- 
resses of  revelation  are  without  number 
or  limitation.  "It  remains  yet  to  be  seen 
what  God  will  do  with  and  for  a  man  who 
will  let  Him  have  His  way  with  Him." 

65 


THE  UNDESIGNED  CALF 


THE  UNDESIGNED  CALF 


"/  cast  the  gold  into  the  fire,  and  there 
came  out  this  calf"  (Ex.  32:24). 

The  words  of  this  Scripture  passage  con- 
stitute part  of  Aaron's  defense  of  his  part 
in  the  making  of  the  golden  calf  which  the 
Israelites  worshiped  as  an  idol.  In  sub- 
stance, he  said  that  he  had  no  design  as  to 
what  would  be  the  form  of  the  objects 
which  would  come  of  the  casting  of  the  gold 
into  the  fire.  "I  cast  in  this  gold,"  and  to 
my  surprise,  "there  came  out  this  calf." 

But,  much  as  we  dislike  to  reflect  upon 
Israel's  first  high  priest,  Aaron  was  not 
giving  a  true  record  of  what  had  occurred; 
for  the  record  says  that  Aaron  received  the 
gold  at  the  hands  of  the  people  and  "fash- 
ioned it  with  a  graving  tool,  after  he  had 
made  it  a  molten  calf"  This  may  have  been 
a  very  imperfect  image  of  a  calf,  but  it  was 
the  best  that  Aaron  could  do,  for  he 

69 


SOME  ESTIMATES  or  LIFE 

moulded  the  metal  into  the  likeness  of  a 
calf  and  then  removed  the  defects  with  a 
graving  tool.  The  fact  is,  no  calf  ever  "just 
happens;"  there  is  always  a  cause. 

It  seems  now  that  many  of  the  things 
that  science  made  us  believe,  much  against 
our  will  and  inclination,  a  few  years  ago, 
are  not  true  after  all.  They  argued  with 
us  until  they  made  us  believe  that  the  Gulf 
Stream  actually  runs  clear  across  the  At- 
lantic Ocean  and  modifies  the  climate  of 
England  and  Western  Europe;  now  they 
tell  us  that  this  is  a  mistake,  the  Gulf 
Stream  is  lost  in  the  deep  ocean  just  a  lit- 
tle distance  off  the  Newfoundland  coast. 
Well,  I  believed  that  to  begin  with,  and  if 
they  would  only  have  let  me  alone,  I  would 
have  been  correct  all  the  time.  As  it  is,  I 
went  through  all  the  cumbersome  and  far- 
fetched evidence  for  nothing  and  am  back 
at  the  beginning.  Nevertheless,  there  is  one 
thing:  they  will  not  get  me  to  admit  that 
it  "just  happens"  that  the  climate  of 
England  is  milder  than  a  place  of  corre- 
sponding latitude  in  America. 

I  listen  with  some  patience  to  the  evolu- 

70 


THE  UNDESIGNED  CALF 

tionist  as  long  as  he  tells  me  that  certain 
adequate  causes  accomplished  certain  re- 
sults; but  when  he  begins  to  say  that  cer- 
tain things  actually  happened — he  is  sure 
they  happened — but  he  posits  no  adequate 
cause,  right  there  I  part  company  with 
him.  All  life  started  out  either  from  the 
same  place  or  from  many  places  simultane- 
ously; anyway,  nothing  adequate  started 
it — it  just  started.  Existence  came  from 
non-existence  without  any  special  cause; 
order  came  out  of  chaos  without  any  in- 
telligence to  direct  it;  life  came  without  a 
Life  Giver;  mind  came  from  unthinking 
matter;  species  continued  on  down  the 
main  line  or  branched  off  into  myriad  vari- 
ations according  to  the  decrees  of  chance. 
I  do  not  believe  any  of  this.  If  it  sounds 
Pharisaical  to  say  that  I  am  too  religious 
to  believe  it,  it  will  suit  me  just  as  well  to 
say  that  I  am  too  intelligent  to  believe  it. 
It  is  no  better  to  me  than  Aaron's  calf  story. 
There  is  a  cause — adequate  cause — for 
every  result. 

But  the  question  of  origin  is  subordinate 
to  present  being.    We  could  excuse  a  man 

71 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

for  coming  from  a  monkey  more  easily  than 
we  can  pardon  him  for  being  a  monkey 
still.  It  would  be  better  to  be  an  animal 
lifted  from  the  brute  state  by  the  cables  of 
will  and  faith  than  to  be  a  renegade  angel. 
What  we  were  is  incidental  to  what  we  are. 
Every  child  has  a  right  to  be  well-born, 
though  the  defense  of  this  right  is  left  en- 
tirely to  others.  The  general  type  of  the 
human  species  is  inherently  determined; 
but  this  general  type  is  affected  by  the  dis- 
tant and  immediate  progenitors;  and  it 
may  be  further  modified  by  direct  prenatal 
influences,  either  ignorantly  or  intentional- 
ly exerted.  The  first  primary  qualification 
of  parenthood  is  the  willingness  and  ability 
to  endow  one's  progeny  with  healthy 
bodies,  sound  minds,  and  normal  moral 
natures  in  which  there  is  no  bias  resulting 
from  accumulated  depravity.  But  since 
none  of  us  are  permitted  to  choose  our 
grandfathers,  it  is  not  proper  that  I  should 
do  more  than  to  say  that  God  and  our  par- 
ents have  given  us  a  certain  amount  of  cap- 
ital, and  we  prove  our  worthiness  to  exist 
by  the  increase  that  we  can  show  on  that 

72 


THE  UNDESIGNED  CALF 

original  capital.  Still,  we  must  not  forget 
that  many  a  child  is  handicapped  in  the 
race  of  life  by  the  meagerness  of  the  legacy 
which  was  given  him  at  birth.  It  takes  train- 
ing to  make  any  colt  a  three-minute  horse, 
and  though  the  very  best  training  will  not 
make  a  three-minute  horse  out  of  a  Shet- 
land colt,  still  it  will  make  a  faster  Shetland 
than  it  would  have  been  without  the  train- 
ing. 

The  second  primary  qualification  for 
parenthood  is  the  willingness  and  ability  to 
give  the  child  proper  environment  during 
its  most  plastic  years.  The  home  has  more 
to  do  with  the  making  of  the  child  than 
any  other  factor.  If  a  child  was  trained  at 
home,  he  is  likely  to  reflect  the  moulding 
and  the  graving  which  he  received  there. 
Of  course  we  must  acknowledge  the  power 
of  individual  choice  and  allow  it  to  account 
for  the  exceptions  to  the  rule,  nevertheless, 
it  is  very  seldom  that  one  can  just  throw 
brute  gold  into  the  fire  and  a  calf  will  walk 
out  without  any  moulding  and  graving. 

I  used  to  preach  that  grace  was  a  suf- 
ficient factor  in  the  training  of  children, 

73 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

but  I  am  convinced  that  it  is  not  true.  Some 
of  the  best  people  that  I  know  have  made 
a  failure  in  the  training  of  their  children. 
Yet,  with  all  that  I  know  of  families  and 
children,  the  youth  of  my  acquaintance  are 
in  my  judgment,  moulded  and  graven  into 
their  present  form,  very  largely,  by  the  en- 
vironment to  which  they  have  been  sub- 
jected. 

There  is  more  or  less  of  what  the  theo- 
logians call  antinomianism  in  us  all.  This 
is  manifested  in  the  tendency  to  exaggerate 
God's  responsibility  in  human  affairs. 
There  is  a  reality  in  the  transforming  grace 
of  God,  but  there  is  a  human  responsibility 
that  always  precedes  the  Divine.  Chris- 
tians— true  Christians — have  a  very  large 
human  element,  hence  a  very  large  human 
responsibility;  as  well  as  a  very  essential 
Divine  element  in  their  makeup.  The  Chris- 
tian home  implies  more  than  prayer  and 
Bible  reading.  It  implies  more  than  pro- 
hibitions and  moral  precepts.  I  think  I 
have  seen  homes  where  the  parents  were 
both  professing  Christians,  where  there  was 
family  prayer,  where  there  were  many 

74 


THE  UNDESIGNED  CALF 

things  that  were  truly  Christian,  and  yet  I 
would  have  been  surprised  to  have  seen 
strong,  stalwart  Christians  come  out  of  that 
home.  Some  may  think  that  I  am  hinting 
that  there  was  hypocrisy  and  inconsistency. 
I  do  not  mean  that  at  all;  but  there  was 
something  lacking  and  Christianity  was 
made  odious  to  the  children  there.  I  have 
seen  parents  accept  an  impractical  attitude 
toward  social  questions,  or  a  rigid  policy 
toward  education  and  progress,  things  that 
might  have  remained  neutral,  if  they  had 
not  elected  to  make  them  tests  of  religion; 
and  by  their  attitude  and  policies  they  con- 
vinced their  children  of  the  impracticabil- 
ity and  in-adaptitude  of  Christianity,  and 
the  children  went  out  from  Christian  par- 
ents to  become  practical  infidels.  It  was 
not  a  lack  of  old-time  religion,  but  a  lack 
of  old-fashioned  common  sense  that  had 
wrought  the  disaster. 

A  man  bewailed  the  delinquency  of  his 
eighteen-year-old  boy  and  declared  he 
could  not  understand  how  such  results 
could  come.  In  substance,  he  said,  "I  cast 
in  the  gold,  and  there  came  out  this  calf." 

75 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

But  with  a  little  investigation,  I  found  that 
the  boy  had  never  been  taught  obedience 
as  a  child.  He  had  played  with  question- 
able company,  had  roamed  the  streets  and 
alleys,  committed  petty  larcenies  and  in- 
dulged in  by-words  and  questionable  con- 
versation since  before  he  was  of  school  age. 
The  father  was  indulgent,  the  mother  was 
kind,  the  neighbors  were  mad  and  the  boy 
went  wild.  But  as  I  looked  him  over,  I 
could  see  the  certain  marks  of  the  mold  and 
of  the  graving  tools;  he  was  no  accident. 

Our  argument  for  Christian  schools  and 
for  Christian  education  is  very  simple.  If 
the  child  is  sent  to  school  where  his  teachers 
dance,  attend  the  picture  shows  and  the 
theater,  teach  the  various  silly  guesses  of 
evolution  and  mock  at  religion;  and  where 
the  students,  as  a  whole,  follow  in  the  steps 
of  their  superiors  and  talk  the  talk  which 
such  associations  naturally  encourage;  and 
where  worldliness  in  its  various  forms  and 
fads  reigns  without  protest,  then  what  won- 
der if  the  child  does  not  turn  out  to  be  a 
foreign  missionary,  or  a  prayermeeting 
leader?  Expensive  as  the  task  is,  we  must, 

76 


THE  UNDESIGNED  CALF 

nevertheless,  provide  for  the  education  of 
our  youth  under  proper  Christian  in- 
fluences, if  we  save  them  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven. 

But  I  can  not  pass  without  observing 
that,  after  all,  man  is  the  great  factor  in  his 
own  making  or  unmaking.  Even  with  a 
small  birthright,  he  may  still  amass  a  for- 
tune. Roosevelt  was  such  a  weak  lad  that 
his  parents  sent  him  to  a  private  school, 
lest  he  should  get  injured  in  play  with  the 
larger  crowds  at  the  public  school.  But  he 
set  in  deliberately  to  "build"  a  body,  and 
succeeded  so  well  that  he  became  husky, 
able,  one  critic  said,  to  cope  with  the  lead- 
ing prize  fighters  of  his  day,  but  for  his 
near  sightedness  which  compelled  him  to 
wear  glasses.  Demosthenes  has  been  rep- 
resented to  us  as  of  mean  bearing,  a  stam- 
mering speech,  and  embarrassed  poise;  but 
he  overcame  these  defects  and  became  the 
greatest  orator  of  antiquity.  There  are 
others  who  never  could  get  rid  of  their 
handicaps,  but  set  in  and  won  the  race  any- 
way. Paul  could  not  get  rid  of  his  "thorn 
in  the  flesh,"  so  sought  grace  to  out-match 

77 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

it.  Martin  Wells  Knapp  was  always  frail, 
and  often  labored  in  pain,  but  he  did  a  life- 
time's work  before  he  was  out  of  his  for- 
ties. Newton  knew  as  little  when  he  was 
born  as  any  of  us.  Fletcher  was  as  de- 
praved by  sin  as  other  mortals,  but  arose 
to  eminence  in  holy  living  by  forces  of  his 
own  election. 

Reared  among  the  moonshiners  of  the 
backwoods,  Lincoln  refused  to  drink,  and 
arose  to  the  highest  place  from  the  most 
obscure  environment.  Garfield  learned  to 
read  after  he  was  eighteen  and  then  went 
on  from  the  presidency  of  a  college  to  the 
presidency  of  the  United  States.  Such  men 
followed  the  intuitions  of  their  own  minds 
and  hearts  which  rebelled  against  their  en- 
vironments, and  were  led  out  of  the  dark- 
ness into  light.  There  were  no  schools,  so 
Lincoln  studied  at  home;  there  were  no 
blackboards  and  chalk,  so  he  used  charcoal 
and  a  split  pine  board;  there  were  no 
libraries,  so  he  walked  miles  to  borrow 
books;  there  were  no  opportunities  for  pro- 
motion, so  he  said  he  would  spend  his  time 
getting  ready,  and  then,  "maybe  the  oppor- 

78 


THE  UNDESIGNED  CALF 

tunity  would  come."  It  did  come,  and  the 
nation  is  glad  that  it  found  Lincoln  ready. 
Good  things  can  "come  out  of  Nazareth," 
even  if  Nazareth  is  off  the  main  thorough- 
fares and  proverbial  for  its  lack  of  culture 
and  progress.  Such  "good  things"  are  not 
the  products  of  Nazareth,  but  they  must 
"come  out"  in  order  to  fill  their  mission. 

This  is  a  world  of  wheat  and  tares,  no 
matter  where  you  go.  You  can  find  almost 
any  thing  and  almost  any  kind  of  person, 
if  you  will  make  a  sufficient  search.  And 
the  things  and  persons  that  we  seek  affect 
us  much  more  than  those  which  come  to  us 
unbidden.  The  bird  which  flies  over  my 
head,  may  do  so  without  my  permission; 
but  I  have  formed  an  alliance  with  the  one 
that  "makes  a  nest  in  my  hair."  The  rich- 
est man  this  world  ever  saw  was  voluntarily 
without  a  place  to  lay  His  head;  the  king- 
liest  man  had  no  crown,  but  one  of  thorns, 
and  no  throne  but  a  cross.  The  humblest 
man  was  crucified  on  the  charge  of  blas- 
phemy, and  though  crucified  between  two 
thieves  and  "numbered  with  transgressors," 

79 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

He  still  remained,  "holy,  harmless,  unde- 
filed  and  separate  from  sinners." 

The  eagle,  it  is  said,  rises  faster  in  the 
face  of  the  storm  than  in  the  time  of  calm. 
So,  the  contrast  may  stir  the  awakened  to 
arise  from  the  slime  and  darkness  of  his 
surroundings.  The  old  maxim,  "Blood  will 
tell"  may  as  well  be  an  encouraging  mes- 
sage as  a  disheartening  one.  It  is  the  force 
to  which  one  willingly  submits  himself  that 
becomes  the  greatest  factor  in  his  moulding. 
The  very  effort  required  in  the  resisting 
of  the  low,  the  base  and  the  vile  will  de- 
velop stamina  and  manhood  in  the  over- 
comer.  The  necessity  of  choosing,  occa- 
sions one  of  the  most  useful  means  for  the 
moulding  of  the  man.  The  world  is  full 
of  would-be  friends,  choose  for  yourself;  but 
remember  that  if  you  choose  them,  you 
have  elected  to  make  them  factors  in 
your  own  making.  The  world  is  full  of 
books — choose  and  read;  but  remember 
that  you  will  become  like  the  books  which 
you  choose  to  read.  There  are  ways,  and 
ways,  and  ways  in  the  world,  select  the  one 
that  you  will  travel ;  but  remember  that  the 

80 


THE  UNDESIGNED  CALF 

way  you  will  go  will  color  your  life  quite  as 
much  as  you  will  affect  the  course  itself. 

Finally,  I  must  observe  that  all  men 
have  a  religious  nature  and  that  it  is  the 
dominant  nature.  All  other  things  are  and 
ought  to  be  subject  to  a  man's  religion.  But 
this  makes  it  the  more  important  that  he 
should  have  true  objectives  in  his  religion. 
Every  man  is  "assimilated  into  the  likeness 
of  the  object  of  his  worship."  The  atheist 
becomes  hard  like  the  heart  of  the  flinty, 
unyielding  fate  which  he,  in  reality,  wor- 
ships. The  agnostic  applies  his  system  of 
doubt  to  himself  and  to  his  friends  and  be- 
comes fickle  and  faithless.  The  infidel  has 
truly  departed  from  his  fidelity  (as  the 
word  implies),  and  is  unworthy  of  trust  by 
his  fellow-beings.  The  old  Frenchman,  de- 
scendant from  the  Huguenots,  who  was 
elected  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  went 
to  Paris  from  his  home  in  the  Pyrenees 
mountains.  He  rented  a  suite  of  rooms  and 
paid  the  first  month's  rent.  The  landlord 
inquired  whether  he  would  require  a  re- 
ceipt. "No,"  said  the  plain  man  of  simple 
faith  and  simple  virtues,  "A  receipt  is  not 

81 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

necessary.  I  know  I  have  paid  you,  you 
know  I  have  paid  you,  and  God  is  witness 
between  us."  The  proud  Parisian  curled 
his  lip  and  said  derisively,  "So  you  still  be- 
lieve in  God,  do  you?"  "Why,  yes,"  said 
the  Christian,  "don't  you?"  "No,  not  any 
more,"  replied  the  Parisian.  "Then,  in  that 
case,"  said  the  Christian,  thoughtfully,  "I 
will  take  a  receipt."  The  formalist's  heart 
will  die  in  order  to  conform  to  his  creed 
and  practke.  The  fanatic's  intellect  will 
warp  and  waver  in  order  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  his  errata.  But  "a  sound  heart 
doeth  good  like  a  medicine."  The  true  be- 
liever has  a  tendency  to  become  "assim- 
ilated into  Christ's  likeness;  and  among  the 
many  and  glorious  phases  of  the  Christ 
character  is  that  of  perfect  manhood.  The 
strongest,  bravest,  wisest,  best  man;  as 
well  as  the  weakest,  most  cowardly,  most 
ignorant,  and  most  fallen,  may  look  up  ex- 
pectantly to  Jesus  Christ  and  pray  believ- 
ingly: 

82 


THE  UNDESIGNED  CALF 

"Oh,  to  be  like  Thee,  Blessed  Redeemer" 
This  is  my  constant  longing  and  prayer; 
Gladly  I'll  forfeit  all  of  earth's  treasures, 
Jesus,  thy  perfect  likeness  to  wear." 

And  from  such  a  mould,  always  the  very 
best  that  you  are  able  to  choose,  there  will 
come  out  an  image,  which  will  still  need  the 
chiseling  of  the  graving  tools  of  life's  fur- 
ther tests,  but  which,  far  from  being  of  ac- 
cidental origin,  is  designed  to  be  entirely 
like  Him,  when  you  shall  "See  Him  as  He 
is." 


83 


THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 


THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 


"And  who  knoweth  whether  thou  hast 
come  to  the  kingdom  for  such  a  time  as 
this?"  (Esther  4:14). 

Times  are  discriminatory  and  will  not 
use  out  of  date  material.  It  is  a  common 
idea  with  each  generation  that  the  world's 
work  is  all  done  and  that  there  is  nothing 
left  but  to  admire  the  accomplishments  of 
the  fathers.  What  is  the  use?  Columbus 
has  already  discovered  America,  Watts  has 
discovered  the  hidden  power  of  steam;  Bell 
Has  invented  the  telephone ;  Edison  has  per- 
fected the  phonograph,  and  Ford  has 
made  the  automobile.  What  is  left  to  do, 
and  to  what  new  place  can  a  man  go? 

Alexander  could  not  have  conquered  the 
world  at  any  other  period  than  the  one 
at  which  he  appeared  and  Napoleon  arose 
by  means  of  the  crisis  in  French  politics. 
The  birth  of  Washington  was  timed,  earlier 

87 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

or  later  would  not  have  done.  Lincoln 
might  have  died  in  obscurity  had  he  waited 
twenty  years  to  have  been  born. 

The  steamship  seems  to  have  been  per- 
fected before  our  day  and  the  frontier  of 
American  civilization  seems  to  have  jumped 
into  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  sciences  and 
the  arts  are  so  far  developed  that  one  may 
study  and  work  all  his  life  and  then  not  add 
one  iota  to  the  sum  total  of  human  knowl- 
edge or  leave  a  single  masterpiece. 

And  the  fathers  did  their  work  so  well 
that  it  is  difficult  to  improve  their  models. 
The  fathers  had  the  advantage:  many  of 
their  discoveries  were  really  just  on  the  sur- 
face any  way.  They  picked  up  a  lot  of  gold 
that  did  not  have  to  be  mined.  They  did 
not  have  to  be  very  high  to  be  above  the 
masses.  They  did  not  have  to  know  much 
to  be  teachers  in  their  day. 

Yes,  the  easy  things  are  all  done — every 
succeeding  generation  has  found  it  so.  It 
is  more  difficult  to  make  good  this  year 
than  it  was  last.  Tomorrow  will  require 
better  timber  for  its  construction  than  we 
have  used  today. 

88 


THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 

It  is  doubtful  whether  Wesley  could 
"hold  the  crowds"  today  with  his  doctrinal 
and  argumentative  sermons  as  he  used  to  do 
in  England;  the  methods  used  in  the  great 
universities  of  the  Middle  Ages  would  leave 
a  school  today  without  a  student;  Socrates 
discussed  questions  in  which  we  are  not 
interested  and  Thales  was  mistaken  in  his 
scientific  guesses.  So,  you  see,  it  was  easier 
to  "get  by"  then  than  it  is  now. 

The  early  financiers  have  "gobbled  up" 
the  country's  resources  and  "there  is  no 
chance  for  a  poor  man  now."  The  fact  is, 
we  have  fallen  upon  the  hardest  times  that 
the  world  ever  saw — I  say  this  seriously.  It 
is  difficult  to  make  good  now  days. 

But  "easy  times"  have  always  fathered 
weak  men.  There  are  no  great  nations  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  torrid  zone.  It  requires 
the  winds  and  snow  of  winter  to  drive  men 
to  the  development  of  architecture,  and  to 
the  weaving  of  cloth.  When  nature  is  too 
kind,  she  spoils  her  child.  And  like  things 
are  true  of  organized  society.  The  more 
strenuous  the  times  the  better  opportunity 
for  developing  the  texture  of  manhood.  If 

89 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

the  air  offered  no  resistance,  the  wings  of 
the  bird  would  never  enable  him  to  rise 
and  fly.  If  our  tasks  are  hard  today,  they 
present  the  opportunity  for  us  to  rise  higher 
than  any  before  us. 

The  labor  of  the  fathers  is  not  lost,  un- 
less we  either  ignore  them  or  go  back  and 
spend  our  time  doing  their  work  again.  We 
may  become  "the  true  ancients  by  stand- 
ing upon  the  shoulders  of  those  who  have 
gone  before  us."  We  must  begin  where 
they  left  off.  We  have  often  spoken  of  the 
wisdom  of  our  fathers,  but,  as  a  British 
statesman  recently  said,  "we  would  do  well 
to  imitate  their  courage."  They  traveled 
much  in  paths  that  others  had  never  seen, 
and  if  we  are  as  courageous  as  they,  there 
are  pathless  continents  of  progress  and 
possession  ahead  for  us,  also. 

Starting  with  the  material  side  of  life, 
we  must  admit  that  the  times  call  for  men. 
The  surface  coal  is  gone  and  we  must  now 
mine  deeply.  The  well  watered  sections  are 
occupied,  we  must  build  great  irrigation 
projects.  Timber  is  becoming  scarce,  we 
must  now  build  more  substantially  of  iron, 

90 


THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 

stone  and  concrete.  Life's  standards  are 
lifted,  we  must  all  "speed  up"  on  produc- 
tion. Individually,  it  takes  a  better  man 
to  succeed  than  formerly.  It  is  necessary 
now  for  any  worth  while  enterprise  to  be 
"taken  apart."  That  is,  no  man  can  do 
much  without  co-operation.  But  not  very 
many  competent  people  are  willing  to  co- 
operate with  an  incompetent,  a  tyrant  or  a 
rogue.  No  matter  what  we  may  think  of 
our  men  of  big  business,  it  speaks  well  for 
them  that  there  are  so  many  who  are  will- 
ing to  work  with  them.  And  it  is  not  a 
question  of  one  man  getting  a  great  many 
people  to  let  him  do  their  thinking  and 
planning,  it  is  the  much  more  difficult 
thing  of  getting  an  army  of  people  to  as- 
sociate their  thinking  and  planning  for  a 
common  end. 

A  man  who  is  reported  to  have  made  two 
million  dollars  in  the  business  of  farming 
was  approached  by  another  in  this  wise: 
"Well,  of  course,  you  have  made  a  success, 
but  you  had  the  opportunity.  Land  and 
labor  were  cheap  when  you  required  them 
both  and  you  got  in  on  'the  ground  floor.' ' 

91 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

But  the  great  man  of  success  said  that  if 
he  were  a  young  man  of  twenty-one  now  he 
could  start  in  with  nothing  and  die  at  seven- 
ty worth  a  million  dollars.  When  asked  how 
he  would  do  it,  his  answer  was  different  from 
what  the  majority  of  us  would  have  ex- 
pected. He  said,  "First,  I  would  go  and 
marry  a  good,  intelligent  girl  who  had  been 
brought  up  in  about  the  same  circum- 
stances of  life  as  myself;  I  would  then  go 
and  hire  to  some  successful  farmer  in  a 
good,  well-developed  section  of  the  country. 
I  would  want  the  farmer  to  furnish  me  a 
house,  a  cow,  a  garden  spot,  a  place  for 
chickens  and  pay  me  fifty  dollars  a  month. 
My  wife  and  I  would  live  on  the  income 
from  the  cow,  chickens  and  'garden  and 
would  use  only  one  hundred  dollars  a  year 
of  my  wages.  I  would  open  an  account  with 
a  conservative,  progressive  bank,  and 
would  make  my  deposits  regularly.  At  the 
end  of  two  years,  I  would  be  free  from  debt, 
would  have  a  thousand  dollars  in  the  bank 
and  my  banker's  confidence;  the  rest  would 
be  easy."  I  don't  think  a  young  man  should 
set  in  to  get  rich;  he  should  have  a  higher 

92 


THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 

purpose:  I  do  not  know  whether  this  man's 
plan  would  bring  the  remarkable  success 
that  he  suggests  or  not;  but  it  takes  a  bet- 
ter man  to  make  a  success  in  temporal 
things  than  it  ever  did  before;  for  even 
thieves  will  not  trust  a  thief  and  a  tyrant 
will  not  brook  the  tyranny  of  another. 

You  can  be  a  bolshevic  without  any  one's 
consent,  but  if  you  succeed  with  the  man- 
agement of  property  and  goods,  you  must 
be  a  man  that  others  can  trust.  If  you 
teach  others  to  steal  for  you,  they  will  steal 
from  you.  No  man  ever  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  an  enduring  fortune  with  money 
that  he  won  on  a  bet.  You  who  are  look- 
ing out  upon  the  prospects  of  life  and 
planning  for  temporal  gains ;  have  you  real- 
ly "come  to  the  kingdom  for  such  a  time 
as  this?"  Or  will  you  sit  around  and  envy 
the  lucky  dead  and  curse  the  prosperous 
living,  and  wait  for  chance  to  make  you 
rich? 

Domestic  life  is  a  more  serious  matter 
than  it  used  to  be.  I  know  we  speak  much 
of  "the  good  old  days"  when  separations 
were  few  and  divorce  was  a  scandal,  and 

93 


SOME  ESTIMATES  or  LIFE 

we  all  admit  that  we  have  fallen  upon  evil 
times  from  the  standpoint  of  the  home. 
But  we,  as  usual,  want  the  good  things  of 
the  past  without  accepting  the  evils.  How 
many  who  rejoice  over  "the  emancipation 
of  woman"  realize  that  this  is  one  of  the 
very  things  that  makes  the  domestic  life  of 
today  the  problem  that  it  is?  In  the  "good 
old  days"  there  was  almost  no  alternative 
for  a  girl  but  matrimony.  Woman  was  of- 
fered but  few  educational  advantages  and 
almost  all  the  lucrative  and  honorable  posi- 
tions of  life  were  closed  to  her.  And  after 
she  married,  there  was  nothing  for  her  to 
do  but  to  stick  to  her  husband.  If  she  left 
him,  there  was  scandal,  and  the  matter  of 
a  material  existence  was  a  real  problem  to 
face,  while  a  re-marriage  would  be  another 
doubtful  venture.  The  result  was  that  as 
regularly  as  girls  came  to  womanhood  they 
married,  taking  "the  best  the  market  of- 
fered at  that  time";  and  they  endured  the 
brutality  and  neglect  which  were  so  often 
their  lot;  for  there  was  no  better  alterna- 
tive. 

But  whether  we  like  it  or  not,  a  new  day 

94 


THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 

has  come.  Girls  are  this  day  taking  better 
advantage  of  educational  opportunities 
than  boys,  and  they  are  making  good.  Al- 
most every  occupation  and  calling  in  life 
is  as  open  to  women  as  to  men.  And  there 
is  no  more  reason  why  a  girl  should  marry 
now  than  there  is  why  a  boy  should  marry. 
And  there  is  no  more  reason  why  a  woman 
should  live  with  a  drunken,  adulterous  hus- 
band than  there  is  that  a  man  should  keep 
a  drunken,  unclean  wife.  What  is  the  re- 
sult? Well,  people  are  no  better  on  the 
average,  than  they  used  to  be  and  so  the 
young  women  who  prefer  "single  bliss"  go 
on  the  even  tenor  of  their  way  without  the 
necessity  of  having  any  one  provide  "bread 
and  butter"  for  them.  Also  the  divorce 
mills  grind  merrily  on  and  women  put 
away  their  husbands  and  husbands  put 
away  their  wives.  I  do  not  say  that  men 
and  women  are  either  any  better  or  any 
worse  than  they  used  to  be;  only  just  the 
times  are  different  and  "what's  in,  outs" 
more  than  it  used  to. 

Nevertheless,    human    society    can    not 
stand  without  the  home.    If  the  home  dies, 

95 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

civilization  will  perish.  "Male  and  female 
created  He  them,"  and  designed  that  one 
man  should  have  one  woman  for  his  wife 
and  that  they  two  should  become  one  flesh, 
live  together  after  God's  ordinance,  bear 
children  and  train  them  up  to  fear  and 
honor  God  and  to  fit  their  souls  for  the 
sky.  But  with  our  changed  conditions, 
home  building  has  become  the  highest  art. 
The  "cave  man"  could  go  out  and  drag  his 
wife  in  by  the  hair,  beat  off  competitors 
with  a  club  and  keep  his  spouse  and 
progeny  in  subjection  through  fear.  Our 
forebears  of  contiguous  generations  al- 
lowed a  lot  of  license  to  the  husband  who 
was  "a  good  provider,"  and  held  their 
women  in  line  by  bribes  of  "bread  and  but- 
ter" which  the  woman  did  not  have  ability 
to  get,  apart  from  her  husband,  and  by 
threats  of  slander  and  disgrace.  But  every 
young  woman  now  is  expected  to  "look  be- 
fore she  leaps,"  and  even  after  she  has 
"leaped"  she  is  still  capable  of  forcing 
Father  Time  to  give  her  bread  and  persuad- 
ing Mother  Earth  to  give  down  her  milk, 
and  if  she  has  cause,  the  public  conscience 

96 


THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 

does  not  damn  her  for  ruing  her  bargain 
and  going  back  to  her  maiden  rights.  I  do 
not  think  more  stringent  marriage  require- 
ments or  more  exacting  divorce  conditions 
will  either  one  do  much  to  alleviate  our 
difficulties.  The  trouble  is  not  in  our  laws, 
but  in  us.  It  is  ourselves  that  need  the  "re- 
vision." 

The  parties  to  matrimony  have  few  al- 
lies, outside  of  themselves;  and  there  are 
many  things  to  make  this  old-fashioned  art 
the  most  difficult  of  all,  just  now.  But,  in 
spite  of  all,  marriage  is  an  institution  of 
God  and  is  the  highest,  noblest  and  purest 
of  earthly  relations;  and  it  is  worth  all 
that  it  costs  to  make  it  a  success.  True  love, 
genuine  religion,  industry  and  common 
sense  will  brook  every  hindrance  to  matri- 
monial felicity  and  make  the  estate  a  glo- 
rious success.  But  each  thing  I  have  named 
is  a  gem  of  character  within  itself,  and  too 
many  try  to  get  by  without  some  of  these 
most  essential  possessions.  Our  task  is  a 
difficult  one,  and  it  requires  better  men 
and  better  women  to  build  homes  now  than 
it  ever  did  before.  In  all  seriousness,  I  ask, 

97 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

"Can  you  qualify  for  the  undertaking?" 
Social  life,  also,  is  now  so  complicated 
as  to  be  all  but  undefinable.  The  ancient 
master  and  servant  have  been  replaced  by 
the  corporation  and  the  labor  union.  King 
and  subject  have  become  government  and 
"the  people."  Men  no  longer  get  their 
clothing  from  the  backs  of  their  own  sheep 
and  their  food  from  their  own  fields  and 
olive  yards;  but  we  go  to  the  utmost  parts 
of  the  earth  for  the  things  we  have 
learned  to  want.  Duty  and  mercy,  honesty 
and  truthfulness,  business  and  politics  are 
not  simple  words  any  more.  The  defini- 
tion of  these  terms  may  be  clear  enough, 
but  the  application  is  not  easy.  Freedom 
and  liberty,  patriotism  and  justice — what 
do  these  terms  mean  to  us  when  we  try  to 
calculate  the  scope  which  they  are  permit- 
ted to  cover?  What  is  justice,  and  who  is 
my  neighbor?  How  may  I  do  good  to  some 
without  doing  ill  to  others,  amidst  the  com- 
plications and  the  clash  of  interests  of  my 
own  times? 

These  are  not  idle  questions.    It  is  true, 
our  fathers  never  had  to  answer  them,  but 

98 


THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 

must  meet  them  and  answer  them.  In  all 
reverence  for  their  memory,  I  do  not  be- 
lieve our  fathers  could  have  answered  these 
distressingly  perplexing  questions.  But 
every  man  to  his  own  generation.  Ours  is 
both  the  best  and  the  worst  day  that  has 
come  yet.  If  we  can  only  be  sufficient  for 
this  day !  But  God  knew  the  times  in  which 
we  were  to  serve,  and  we  may  be  assured 
that  He  will  help  us  in  answer  to  our  plea 
for  succor  in  this  great  time  of  need. 

But  our  most  perplexing  sphere  is  our 
moral  and  religious  situation.  Old-fash- 
ioned virtues,  and  old-time  religion  are  both 
fundamental  as  realities,  and  unchanging 
as  to  essence.  We  may  well  be  glad  for 
these  facts.  The  fundamental  needs  of  men 
are  the  same  now  as  in  the  days  of  our 
fathers.  A  Christian  of  the  first  century 
was,  in  every  essential,  characteristic  and 
practice,  the  same  as  a  Christian  of  the 
twentieth  century.  And  the  task  of  bring- 
ing men  to  God  is  unchanged  as  to  its  pur- 
pose and  results. 

But  we  are  living  in  "strange  and  awful 
times."  The  pendulum  of  religious  attitude 

99 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

has  swung  clear  away  from  the  side  of 
superstition  and  credulity,  where  it  was  in 
past  days,  and  is  now  over  on  the  side  of 
irreverence  and  doubt.  The  brutality  of 
an  honest  past  has  given  place  to  the  re- 
finement of  a  shallow  gentility.  The  piety 
of  the  ancient  who  acknowledged  his  lack 
of  enlightenment  has  been  replaced  by  un- 
godliness of  the  modernist  who  claims  to 
know.  The  open,  fierce  opposition  to  the 
work  of  God,  which  usually  could  be  trans- 
formed into  zealous  care  for  the  upbuild- 
ing of  the  faith  which  once  they  sought  to 
destroy,  has  been  succeeded  by  a  sullen  and 
stubborn  indifference  which  is  as  hard  as 
adamant.  People  used  to  "come  to  the 
meetings  to  scoff,  and  remain  to  pray"  now 
they  will  scarcely  come  at  all.  The  holiness 
meeting  used  to  be  an  attraction,  but  now 
the  cheap,  vile  picture  show  entertains  the 
light  minded,  seven  nights  in  the  week. 

In  spite  of  the  large  proportion  of  re- 
ligious professors  and  church  members  in 
this  country,  there  are  but  few  vital  Chris- 
tians. In  spite  of  the  unusual  amount  of 
philanthropy,  there  are  few  revivals. 
100 


THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 

Church  hospitals  get  more  "penitents" 
than  the  mourner's  benches  in  the  churches. 
Genuine  salvation  work  is  an  unusual  spec- 
tacle in  more  than  half  the  churches  of  the 
nation.  And  there  is  no  use  for  us  to  sit 
about  and  sigh,  "Oh,  for  the  return  of  the 
days  of  Wesley";  "Oh,  for  the  raising  up  of 
a  Finney  or  an  Inskip."  Wesley's  days  will 
never  come  back,  and  Finney  and  Inskip 
served  their  generation.  There  is  really  not 
going  to  be  any  one  here  but  just  us  until 
we  leave,  and  when  we  leave  our  day  will 
also  be  passed.  So,  we  are  our  day's  only 
dependence.  However  poor  we  may  serve, 
we  have  come  for  just  this  time. 

God's  plan  for  "making  disciples  of 
men"  does  not  include  a  very  active  min- 
istration of  angels.  God  will  send  the  sav- 
ing message  through  men  who  have  been 
saved  themselves.  And  His  plan  does  not 
include  a  very  full  ministry  on  the  part  of 
those  who  are  dead.  He  evangelizes  each 
generation  by  and  through  the  men  of  that 
generation.  We  know  our  own  age,  and  its 
needs  better  than  any  other  men  could 
know  them.  We  have  literally  "Come  to 
101 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

the  kingdom  for  such  a  time  as  this."  God 
has  complimented  us  by  giving  us  so  dif- 
ficult a  generation  to  reach  and  save.  The 
fact  that  He  put  us  here  at  this  time  is 
proof  that  it  is  in  us  to  make  good,  if  we 
do  not  cheat  ourselves  out  of  our  own  re- 
sources. 

A  man  has  to  be  stronger,  better  edu- 
cated, and  a  more  earnest  worker  today  to 
succeed  in  breaking  through  the  Devil's 
trenches  and  capturing  souls  for  God  than 
would  have  been  necessary  in  doing  the 
same  work  in  the  days  of  the  past.  These 
are  days  that  try  one's  mettle.  If  you  are 
unwilling  to  study  until  you  secure  a  good 
education,  you  can  not  do  much  good  in 
this  day.  If  you  are  not  sanctified  wholly 
by  the  baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
fire,  you  may  be  able  to  keep  out  of  the 
clutches  of  the  Devil,  but  you  will  not 
snatch  many  souls  from  the  burning. 

"Such  a  time  as  this! "  There  was  a  crisis 
on  when  these  words  were  spoken;  the  lives 
of  tens  of  thousands  were  in  the  balance 
and  the  odds  were  against  them.  There  was 
only  one  who  might  be  able  to  stay  the 

102 


THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 

catastrophe,  and  this  appeal  was  addressed 
to  her. 

"Such  a  time  as  this! "  A  crisis  is  on  now; 
the  souls  of  the  millions  of  our  generation 
are  in  the  balance  and  the  odds  are  against 
them.  The  appeal  is  to  the  only  ones  who 
can  possibly  help — the  appeal  is  to  you  and 
me.  Can  we  cope  with  the  situation?  God 
is  looking  down  upon  the  thousands  of  our 
young  men  and  young  women  to  see  if  they 
will  awake  and  arise  to  the  demands  of 
their  hour. 


103 


LIFE'S  PURPOSE  AND  END 


LIFE'S  PURPOSE  AND  END 


"Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter:  Fear  God,  and  keep  his  command- 
ments; for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man" 
(Eccl.  12:13). 

The  ultimate  basis  of  ethics  is  neither 
Egoism  nor  Altruism,  but  Theism.  My  own 
highest  good  and  that  of  my  neighbor  is 
bound  up  in  my  proper  adjustment  to  God. 
Even  the  well  accepted  motto  "Others"  is 
relative,  not  absolute.  "For  me  to  live  is 
Christ"  is  the  only  maxim  that  requires 
neither  limitation  nor  explanation. 

Origin,  duty  and  destiny  are  all  described 
in  the  one  word,  "By  whom  are  all  things, 
for  whom  are  all  things,  to  whom  are  all 
things."  From,  for  and  to  God,  is  the 
whole  history  of  the  world's  best  lives. 

Anything — every  thing — is  bad  if  it  does 
not  help  me  please  God.  Every  thing  has 
value  according  to  its  relation  to  Him,  and 

107 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

nothing  can  be  spoken  of  as  a  positive  and 
absolute  good  until  we  know  where  and 
how  it  acknowledges  and  serves  Him. 

Taken  in  its  details,  life  is  a  hopeless 
complication  of  conflicting  rights,  a  myste- 
rious bundle  of  unfathomable  purposes,  and 
leads  to  an  end  that  is  indefinable.  If  we 
would  straighten  out  the  skein,  we  must 
start  where  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth 
had  their  beginning — with  God.  We  must 
trace  His  plan  through  the  meanderings  of 
life's  course,  and  must  look  for  the  end  in 
"Him  who  is  invisible." 

Let  us  name  all  of  human  knowledge 
"science"  and  ask,  then,  is  it  a  good  thing 
or  a  bad  thing?  When  we  go  to  answer  we 
will  be  obliged  to  say  that  it  is  both  and 
neither.  For  its  goodness  or  badness  de- 
pends upon  the  use  that  is  made  of  it,  and 
that  factor  is  not  involved  in  the  material 
given  in  the  premises. 

Even  goodness  and  badness,  in  their 
broad  sense,  can  not  be  defined  as  inde- 
pendent terms;  for  a  good  thing  may  be- 
come evil  and  a  thing  that  was  intended 
for  evil,  like  persecution,  or  affliction,  may 

108 


LIFE'S  PURPOSE  AND  END 

turn  out  to  be  good.  I  can  not  say  that 
sickness,  sorrow  and  poverty  are  evils ;  and 
that  health,  happiness  and  riches  are  good. 
I  must  know  the  relation  of  these  things  to 
God  and  His  great  purpose  before  I  can  tell 
whether  they  were  good  or  ill. 

What  is  the  highest  good  of  life,  anyway? 
While  admitting  that  this  is  a  difficult  ques- 
tion and  one  that  has  brought  many  an- 
swers, yet  I  think  when  it  is  all  said,  that 
the  word  pleasure  expresses  the  idea  as 
well  as  any  that  we  might  find.  I  know 
this  word  has  been  degraded,  but  I  still  in- 
sist that  it  is  a  good  word,  and  that  it  has 
only  been  marred  by  its  associations.  I 
think  there  is  nothing  better  than  that  a 
man  should  seek  satisfaction  in  this  world. 
I  know  I  say  this  at  some  risk,  for  the  word 
satisfaction  has  also  been  degraded  by  use. 
Still,  I  think  that  man  was  made  with  a 
capacity  for  God,  and  that  that  capacity 
brought  a  desire  and  longing  for  God.  Many 
have  misinterpreted  their  soul  cravings 
and  have  gone  after  pleasure  and  satisfac- 
tion on  the  lower  levels  of  human  possibil- 
ities, but  they  have  never  found  satisfac- 

109 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

tion  there  and  they  never  will.  The  soul's 
call  for  pleasure  is  but  the  echo  of  God's 
invitation  for  that  soul  to  come  to  Him. 

Going  out  with  our  proposition  that 
pleasure  is  the  highest  good,  and  taking  our 
broad  definition  of  "science,"  then  we  will 
find  that  knowledge,  within  itself,  has  never 
added  one  iota  to  the  sum  total  of  man's 
happiness.  Our  superstitious  forebears 
were  tormented  by  their  belief  in  witches, 
haunts  and  jack-o'-lanterns;  but  they  lived 
in  blissful  ignorance  of  microbes  and  dis- 
ease germs.  They  drank  out  of  the  com- 
mon drinking  cup,  dried  on  the  community 
towel  and  died  when  they  "were  old  and 
full  of  years."  They  enjoyed  the  cooling 
breezes  of  the  summer  untrammeled  by 
screens;  for  they  did  not  know  that  there 
was  anything  insufficient  about  the  peach 
tree  branch  as  a  means  for  keeping  the 
flies  away  for  just  the  moment  when  they 
were  eating  the  food.  Their  mode  of  travel 
was  not  so  fast  as  ours  is  today,  but  they 
were  not  feverish  to  get  there,  and  so  they 
had  a  better  time  while  they  were  on  the 
way.  Postage  was  higher  then  than  now, 
no 


LIFE'S  PURPOSE  AND  END 

but  they  did  not  have  to  send  so  many  let- 
ters. There  were  no  telegraph  and  tele- 
phone, but,  having  never  had  them,  they 
did  not  miss  them. 

Domestic  troubles,  suicide,  insanity,  and 
other  certain  evidences  of  unhappiness 
have  multiplied  with  the  increase  of  knowl- 
edge. Education  to  be  worth  anything  to 
the  promotion  of  satisfaction  must  be 
"Christian  Education."  Educating  a  man 
without,  also,  making  his  heart  right  and 
training  his  moral  faculties  makes  him 
neither  better  nor  happier.  It  makes  him 
more  efficient  in  the  doing  of  whatever  he 
chooses  to  do,  but  it  does  not  affect  his 
choosing.  Discipline  in  a  school  where 
Christ  is  not  exalted  is,  indeed,  a  serious 
undertaking. 

Education  badly  used  is  a  bad  thing; 
education  simply  employed  in  the  efficient 
doing  of  things  to  which  morality  does  not 
attach  and  with  no  ultra  motive  is  neither 
good  nor  bad;  education  which  is  from 
Him  as  its  source,  for  Him  in  its  purpose 
and  to  Him  as  its  end  is  a  wonderfully  good 
thing. 

111 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

Then  let  us  summarize  all  we  can  do  as 
Art,  and  go  out  again  with  our  proposition 
that  pleasure  is  the  highest  good.  We  will 
find  that  Art  has  never  been  the  mother 
of  true  satisfaction. 

Let  us  go  to  the  fine  arts:  let  us  speak  of 
poetry  and  of  literature.  How  few  of  the 
poets  were  spiritually  sufficient  and  truly 
happy!  And,  if  you  will  take  the  number 
of  those  who  were  moral,  strong  and  con- 
tented and  subtract  from  that  number 
those  of  them  who  were  Christians  and  who 
found  in  this,  and  not  in  their  art,  the  true 
source  of  their  satisfaction,  the  remaining 
list  would  truly  be  a  short  one.  I  will  not 
specify,  but  those  of  you  who  have  made 
yourselves  familiar  with  the  addicts  of  lit- 
erature and  who  were,  as  we  say  "devoted" 
to  their  art  will  recall  also  that  the  escutch- 
eons of  many  of  the  most  gifted  and  bril- 
liant were  smutted  by  scandalous  living  or 
marred  by  personal  despondency  and  un- 
happiness. 

Music,  which  has  been  mentioned  as  the 
"Queen  of  Arts"  has  required  the  most  ex- 
acting worship  from  her  devotees,  but  she 
112 


LIFE'S  PURPOSE  AND  END 

has  not  met  their  deep  needs.  Here,  too, 
we  would  refrain  from  specifying;  but  who 
will  champion  the  depth  of  character  and 
proclaim  the  spiritual  sufficiency  of  the 
masters  of  the  art?  Why  need  the  great 
pianist  be  an  inveterate  addict  of  the  cigar- 
ette or  a  weak  slave  to  harmful  drugs? 
What  defense  can  be  made  of  the  great 
singer  who  is  wonderful  "when  he  is  not  too 
drunk"?  What  is  the  domestic  reputation 
of  the  "stars"  in  the  opera?  Even  if  it  is 
admitted  that  musicians  are  no  better  and 
no  worse  than  other  people,  the  point  is  lost 
for  the  sufficiency  of  the  art.  Music  is  a 
curse  when  it  is  debased  by  the  Devil  and 
wicked  men  and  made  the  handmaiden  and 
associate  of  wine  and  the  dance.  It  is 
neither  good  nor  bad  when  it  is  detached 
from  all  other  factors.  It  is  a  high  and 
noble  art  only  when  it  is  made  a  Christian 
art. 

It  is  useless  for  us  to  go  on  with  illustra- 
tions. Patriotism,  Philanthropy,  and  every 
human  sentiment  and  practice  will  be  found 
to  meet  the  same  fate  under  consideration. 
They  are  all  insufficient  within  themselves 

113 


SOME  ESTIMATES  OF  LIFE 

and  take  their  virtue  or  their  vice  from  their 
relation  to  God's  will  and  kingdom. 

But  anything  and  everything  is  good,  if 
I  can  make  it  help  me  honor  and  glorify 
God.  The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter 
is  reached  in  fearing  God  and  keeping  His 
commandments.  The  pleasure  that  Science 
could  not  discover  is  mine  when  I  please 
God.  The  satisfaction  that  Art  was  unable 
to  give  is  a  present  to  me  when  I  "do  the 
things  that  are  pleasing  in  His  sight." 


114 


GENERAL   BOARD   OF  EDUCATION 
CHURCH  OF  THE  NAZARENE 

Headquarters 

2109  Troost  Avenue, 

Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Members  of  the  Board 

President,  Jas.  B.  Chapman,  Kansas  City, 

Mo. 
Vice  President,  DeLance  Wallace,  Seattle, 

Wash. 
Secretary-Treasurer,     H.     Orton     Wiley, 

Nampa,  Idaho. 

Fred  J.  Shields,  Wollaston.  Mass. 

Stephen  S.  White,  Bethany,  Okla. 

J.  E.  L.  Moore,  Olivet,  Illinois. 

R.   E.    Dunham,    Conway,   Ark. 

N.  W.  Sanford,  Olivet,  Illinois. 

A.  O.  Henricks,  Pasadena,  Calif. 

W.  B.  Tait,  Morse,  Sask. 


SCHOOLS  AND  COLLEGES 

of  the 
CHURCH  OF  THE  NAZARENE 

Pasadena  University, 

A.  O.  Henricks,  President. 

Olivet  University, 

J.  E.  L.  Moore,  President. 

Northwest  Nazarene  College, 

H.  Orton  Wiley,  President. 

Eastern  Nazarene  College, 

F.  J.  Shields,  President. 

Trevecca  College, 

C.  E.  Hardy,  President. 

Bethany-Peniel  College, 

A.  K.  Bracken,  President. 

Hutchinson  Nazarene  College, 

E.  P.  Ellyson,  President. 

Central  Nazarene  College, 

A.  S.  London,  President. 


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